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THE 



MEDICAL ADVISER 



GUIDE TO HEALTn. 



ADDRESSED TO SUFFERERS OF BOTH SEXES, 



BY 

FREDERIC MORRILL, M.D., 

BESIDEXT PHYSICIAN AT THE MORRILL MEDICAL INSTITUTE, 

Xo. 3 Bulfinch Street, Bostox, Mass. 



^Revised a?id J??ila?yed JZdilion. 



BOSTON, MASS. : 

Published by the Morrill Medical Institute, 

1871. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 

By Frederic Morrii/l, M. D., 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The sale and circulation of nearly forty 
thousand copies of this little work, since 
its first publication in August last, a space 
of little less than eight months, has satis- 
fied me that, notwithstanding its brevity 
and absence of detail, or attempt at any 
thing like display in the exhibition of med- 
ical lore, it struck a chord in the minds of 
that large class of sufferers to whom it 
was particularly addressed, who acknowl- 
edged its general truthfulness, and the 
increasing demand for it from every section 
of the country, nas been the most grateful 
tribute I could have received, that my 
labors have been duly appreciated. In 
(iii) 



IV MEDICAL ADVISER. 

numberless instances I have received let- 
ters from almost every section of \he 
country, expressing the thanks and grati- 
tude of my readers for the plainness and 
candor in which I had addressed them. In 
one, received but a few days since, the 
writer, evidently a gentleman of education 
and culture, says, " I have read your 
Medical Adviser and Guide to Health 
with care, and have become much inter- 
ested in its contents. I think I can see 
my own case in it as if seen in a mirror." 
Such encomiums, coming from disinter- 
ested sources, are much more grateful to 
my feelings, than would be the flattering 
criticisms of the most learned. In the 
outset I did not undertake to compile a 
medical hand-book, to serve as a vade me- 
cum to the professional practitioner, nor 
did I choose to put into the hands of the 
numberless irregular doctors who swarm 
in our midst, a treatise to enable them to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. V 

obtain^ in a cheap way, that knowledge 
which I only obtained by long, laborious, 
and expensive stud} 7 and experience. I 
intended my book to be, as it professes, 
an adviser merely, and if popular testi- 
mony be of any value in a matter of this 
kind, I think I may very safely congratu- 
late myself upon the success of my en- 
deavor. 

In preparing this second edition for the 
j3ress, I have complied with a wish, very 
generally expressed by my friends and 
correspondents, that I would add somewhat 
to the usefulness and convenience of the 
book, as a work of reference, in cases 
where I could not readily be consulted, if 
I gave some more specific directions as to 
treatment, in cases of emergency, with 
such simple formula, recipes, etc., for im- 
mediate application, as might arrest the 
progress of disease until I might be com- 
municated with in reference to it. In yield- 



VI MEDICAL ADYISER. 

ing to these solicitations, I desire it to be 
distinctly understood that I have no inten- 
tion of departing from my general line of 
professional conduct, nor the views I have 
expressed as to the impropriety of self- 
treatment in syphilitic complaints, — ^spe- 
cially paraphrasing the legal aphorism, that 
u that he who (in law) argues his own case, 
has a fool for his client. 77 I am still of 
the opinion that the man who doctors him- 
self, has a fool for a patient, even though he 
be a doctor, and generally successful in his 
treatment of others. The many inquiries 
made of me through the extensive corres- 
pondence which has been opened up 
through the instrumentality of the Adviser, 
has suggested the idea that some few pages, 
devoted to the investigation of complaints 
germaine to those chiefly discussed in 
the first edition, would be generally 
acceptable. The confidence kindly express- 
ed by great numbers of my correspon- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. vil 

dents, that I could convey much useful 
information and advice upon the diseases 
and complaints most prevalent in New 
England especially, hardly leaves me any 
alternative but to comply with their re- 
quest. In doing this, I agree with them 
that I am, perhaps, whilst obliging them, 
merely performing a duty which, it is said, 
every man owes to his profession. 

This book, thus enlarged both in matter 
and in the sphere of its usefulness, will 
not lose any of its distinctive features of 
extreme simplicity, directness, and facility 
to be understood by intelligent common 
sense people ; amongst whom, I apprehend, 
it will chiefly circulate, and by whom I 
prefer it should be read and judged. My 
acceptance of the responsible position of 
Medical Director and Consulting Physician 
of the Morrill Medical Institute, a new 
institution, located at No. 3 Bulfinch Street, 
Boston, Mass., has opened to me a wide 



Vlll MEDICAL ADVISER. 

field for medical investigation and useful- 
ness, which I shall endeavor to improve to 
the best of my ability. 

Hitherto, in my extensive private prac- 
tice, for reasons which can be readily 
understood, I have committed as little to 
writing as possible ; my numerous engage- 
ments precluding any appropriation of 
time to that purpose. But now, with the 
liberal allowance made to me by the Direc- 
tors of the Institute, I shall be enabled to 
avail myself of any assistance I may re- 
quire, not only in keeping an exact record 
of cases, and the variations in treatment 
which every phase of disease may require, 
but materially to aid me in furthering the 
objects of the institution, and simplifying, 
so far as is practicable, the hitherto com- 
plicated practice and treatment of diseases 
which so long have been the sport, and 
constituted the chief income of scores of 
medical leeches, who have lived only by 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. ix 

drawing, as it were, their life-blood from 
the unwary and unfortunate. 

In offering this second edition/ I do not 
claim for it either completion or perfection ; 
but it is all I consider necessary to be 
placed in the hands of those for whom it 
is designed. Very few care about reading 
a dry, exclusively medical treatise, how- 
ever sound and correct it may be ; such 
books are proper only for the medical 
student and practitioner ; but a book 
which mirrors forth to each reader facts 
and symptoms, the truthfulness of which 
they recognize as coming within their own 
personal experience, is always sought for 
and read, with avidity. Whilst I adhere to 
the opinion which formerly induced me to 
publish, in separate and distinct treatises, 
my Gentleman's Medical Adviser, and 
The Ladies' Guide to Health, I am only 
complying with the wishes of many of my 
friends, by including, in this new and 



X MEDICAL ADVISER. 

revised edition, some general observations 
and directions in regard to the pathology 
and treatment of not only diseases kindred 
to, and similar to those particularly alluded 
to in the preceding pages, but such other 
diseases to which females are peculiarly 
liable, and for the proper treatment of 
which, they ever find it most advantageous 
to apply to some physician, well known 
as having made the subject of female com- 
plaints one of especial study and investi- 
gation. I may, I think, without vanity, 
assert that, in this speciality, my varied 
and extensive experience entitles me to a 
consideration beyond that usually extended 
to a large majority of my professional 
brethren ; as, during an uninterrupted prac- 
tice of over thirty years, by far the greater 
number of my patients have been females, 
suffering under some one or more of the 
various forms of what are commonly termed 
sexual, or delicate diseases, or else diffi- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. XI 

culties resulting from some organic or 
functional derangement, about which the 
general run of the " faculty " are as 
innocent of any practical knowledge as 
the child unborn. I am free to confess 
that the skill which I am supposed to 
possess, and the great success I have met 
with in this department of my profession, 
has been attained fully, as much, and 
probably more, from my habits of close 
observation, comparison, and analysis, for 
the employment of which I had ample 
scope in my large practice, than from the 
perusal of books and authorities, no matter 
by whom written or compiled. But, 
whilst devoting myself to the study of 
disease, as displayed in the great book of 
Nature, and the living subject, T have by 
no means neglected the pages of standard 
authors, nor the lighter, but no less 
valuable, emanations of t\ie periodical 
press. It has ever been my pride to keep 



Xll MEDICAL ADVISER, 

" posted " in every thing which is going 
on in all the departments of medical 
learning and science in every part of the 
world ; and, although 1 never . fail to 
investigate each newly heralded discovery 
or improvement, I very seldom find any- 
thing to add to the knowledge I had not 
already attained by my own experience, 
nor to induce me very essentially to 
depart from my system of treatment 
which has so long availed me in my 
extensive practice. The attentive reader 
of either sex must have noticed that I do 
not spread before him or -her, pages of 
technical lore, tedious and wearisome, even 
to the most devoted book-worm, nor a 
re-hash of other men's brains, filched from 
some foreign or antiquated book now out 
of print, and seldom found; thus rendering 
the plagiarism less likely to be detected. 
My book, such as it is, is my own ; and I 
am not ashamed to acknowledge its pater- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. xiii 

nity. It has been written, from beginning 
to end, without reference to any similar 
work in existence ; and I defy the world to 
point out a stolen sentence in it. If it 
contains ought of truth and consistency, 
if it embodies any knowledge of facts or 
science worth the remembering, or useful 
to the invalid and sufferer, the composition 
is mine, and my. own brain has alone 
guided and directed me in my labors. 
Pseudo professors may pretend to criticise, 
and even go so far as to attempt to sneer 
down, in their quack advertisements, a 
production, the effects of which they too 
sensibly feel, in their declining practice, 
and mushroom* popularity ; but after all, 

THE TRUTH WILL PREVAIL. 

1 have long been satisfied that a vast 
amount of unnecessary pain and suffering 
is constantly being inflicted and borne, — 
too patiently borne, I think, — by the 
mothers, wives, and daughters of New 



XIV MEDICAL ADVISER. 

England, from their quiet submission to 
the old, threadbare, and everywhere else 
discarded notions regarding the treatment 
of themselves, when in peculiar circum- 
stances of sickness and debility ; by the 
antiquated and effete systems usually pur- 
sued by the ordinary country practitioner. 
Not that these men are not, in their way 
and limited sphere, as good as ought to be 
expected, but they have neither the 
opportunities to familiarize themselves 
with either the new developments of 
disease, or modes of treatment necessary 
to its successful management, which a 
large city is constantly offering to the 
physician of extensive practice. In the 
city, where competition is sharp, profes- 
sional rivalry compels the aspirant after 
success, to perfect himself by every means 
within his reach, in every art which has 
the least bearing toward success. He 
reads, he studies, he examines and com- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. XV 

pares, until every avenue is explored, 
and goes to his work neither groping nor 
doubtful of his course, but with a boldness 
and confidence, which a self-conscious 
ability always confers upon its possessor. 

With these preliminary observations, I 
submit this new and revised edition, 
somewhat changed as to its title, so as to 
render it conformable to the wider range 
of topics treated upon, to the candid 
examination and criticism of a discerning 
public. Unlike any other book of the 
kind, it will be found to contain nothing 
which should exclude it from the family 
centre-table, the school-room, or the maid- 
en's collection of choice reading. There 
is not a word or sentence in it, which 
should preclude its open perusal at any 
time, in any place, or in any company, and 
all, from the boy and girl, to the father and 
matron, may study its pages, with the 
certainty that, by doing so, they will be 



XVI MEDICAL ADVISER. 

adding to their stock of useful knowledge, 
which, at some period of their lives, will 
be found of essential, perhaps of vital 
service to them. 

F. MORRILL, M. D. 

No. 3 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass, 



PBEFA O E 



TO THE 



REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION. 



The Medical Adviser axd Guide to 
Health, comprising an edition of over 
sixty thousand copies, has now been before 
the public nearly a year, in which time it 
has probably had a larger circulation, and 
a more general perusal, than any similar 
production in this or any other country. 
Its clear, condensed, yet popular style, 
adapted it at once to the taste and wants 
of a people inquisitive upon the topics 
which it discussed and illustrated, whilst 
its perusal and study ever satisfied the 
reader that it was addressed to his reason 
(xvii) 



XVlll MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and common sense for his good, rather 
than to his fears and apprehensions, with 
a design to ensnare him into a patronage, 
or a compliance with covert suggestions, 
having for their object the pecuniary and 
professional emolument of the author, 
through his book as an advertising me- 
dium. 

In the preparation of this enlarged and 
revised edition, the author has, with great 
pleasure, availed himself of the sugges- 
tions of friends and correspondents, both 
in this country and in Europe, in whose 
judgment he places great confidence, and 
whose opinions are of great value in 
matters of this kind. 

The second part, devoted exclusively to 
women and her dangers, diseases, and duties 
to herself in the various relations she sus- 
tains, as maiden, wife, and mother, has been 
prepared, as will be seen, with great care, 
not only in respect to the matter, but in the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. XIX 

manner of its composition. Not a word 
or sentence has been introduced, calculated 
to wound or give offence to the most deli- 
cate, modest, or refined ; and which may 
not be as properly placed in the hands of 
the school girl of fifteen, as in those of the 
accoucheuse, or matron of fifty. Indeed, 
it has been one of the chief objects of the 
author, to place before the young and rising 
generation, a text book upon subjects 
hitherto sadly neglected in their early 
education, and upon which, it is now uni- 
versally conceded, they should be better 
instructed. How well he has succeeded 
in doing this, he does not fear, (though not 
presumptuously nor arrogantly) to appeal 
to an intelligent and impartial public opin- 
ion. In common with every responsible 
member of his profession, the author- has 
been long accustomed to view, with an 
alarm bordering upon disgust, the publi- 
cation of books with captivating titles, and 



XX MEDICAL ADVISER. 

sought to be embellished with portraits 
and cuts of not merely doubtful, but of 
actual meretricious tendency, as totally 
unfit for any useful purpose of enlighten- 
ment upon the topics they pretend to treat, 
as they are improper, on the score of good 
morals, to be placed within the reach of 
those to whom they are unblushingly and 
impudently addressed. With a view to 
substitute something better, and no£ ob- 
noxious to the just objections hitherto 
made to such publications ; as well as to 
supply an actual want, clearly indicated 
by an increasing demand ; this work, carQ- 
fully and conscientiously prepared, is now 
submitted to the professional, as well as 
general reader, confident that, if in its gen- 
eral scope and minuteness of detail, it does 
not constitute a complete vade mecum for 
the former, it can neither offend, or disap- 
point the latter, on the score of propriety, 
or as a safe guide in all those important 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. xxi 

and interesting matters upon which it may 
be deemed necessary to consult its pages. 

F. M. 

The Morrill Medical Institute, 

Xo. 3, Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass. 
March 1, 1871. 



THE 

MEDICAL ADVISER, 

AND 

GUIDE TO HEALTH. 

PART FIRST. 



CHAPTER I. 

MANY years ago, when I first entered 
upon my professional career in the 
city of Boston, as a new and comparatively 
unknown candidate for distinction and 
success, I found time to compile several 
medical treatises, bearing upon a certain 
class of diseases always greatly prevalent 
in our large cities. These works, the 
fruits of careful study and investigation, 
contrary to any expectations which I had 
dared to form, became at once exceedingly 
popular, and edition after edition was 
rapidly -exhausted. Whilst they served in 
(i) 



2 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

part to give publicity to my name, as one 
particularly devoted to the treatment of 
diseases arising from imprudence and ex- 
posure, and all other complaints of the 
genital organs, the extensive range of 
study and examination of authorities and 
cases necessary to prepare me to discuss 
the subject properly and intelligibly, almost 
unconsciously to myself, created that inter- 
est in my mind, as to induce me to select 
that branch of medical science as a spe- 
cialty, and to make it the leading object 
of my future investigations. Finding 
myself thus theoretically and practically 
prepared to combat these dread ene- 
mies of man's pleasure and comforts as 
well, perhaps, as any one of my age, I 
determined to break away from those 
restraints which a false notion of dignified 
professional' propriety had imposed, and at 
the risk of ostracism from the brotherhood, 
and to be classed with those who are con- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 3 

sidered as interlopers, I resolved to adver- 
tise my abilities and to make myself useful 
in a sphere wherein I felt satisfied that I 
could successfully compete with any of 
my brethren. The consequence has been 
that, instead of a limited and precarious 
practice, extending only to a few personal 
friends, I have, each succeeding year, seen 
added to my list of patients persons from 
every section of the country, as well as 
from the adjoining British Provinces and 
foreign lands. Completely absorbed in the 
cares and duties imposed upon me by this 
increase of patronage, I have not been able 
to revise and republish those works to 
to which, I believe, I am in a great degree, 
indebted for my early success in obtaining 
so large and remunerative a practice as I 
now enjoy. 

These thirty years of close application 
to my profession have yielded an expe- 
rience which, added to theoretical attain- 



4 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

merits, acquired when professional calls 
did not press so heavily upon me, have, I 
believe, fully qualified me now to yield to 
the repeated solicitations of my friends 
and patrons, to prepare, for their use, a 
manual which shall serve them as a guide 
in those cases of accident and exposure to 
which all are liable, whatever may have 
been their training and culture, or how- 
ever strong their sense of moral and reli- 
gious obligations, to avoid temptation and 
excess, in whatever shape it may assail 
them. 

Amidst all of the vast catalogue of dis- 
eases which afflict the human race, there 
are none which reach so many, and sting 
so sharply, as those denominated " sexual." 
From the stripling, hardly arrived at the age 
of puberty, to the hoary-headed patriarch 
of three score years and ten, we find that 
none are exempt. Even the infant, before 
it has been expelled from the body of its 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 5 

mother, is too frequently tainted, its blood 
corrupted, and its fair form mutilated by 
a disease communicated to it by its erring 
parents. Did this great social evil limit 
its effects merely to a temporary disa- 
bility of its immediate victims, and were 
it apparent only in the hospitals and doc- 
tor's apartments, where it seeks to assuage 
its pains, and find a cure for the evils 
arising from it, though severe and often 
revolting, its consequences would be slight 
in comparison with what they really are. 
Were such diseases merely local in their 
character, the actual cautery, and the dis- 
secting knife might be relied upon for their 
extirpation; but, unhappily, this is not so. 
When once the infection has gained a foot- 
hold upon the human system, it is not 
merely those parts most immediately ex- 
posed and affected, but like a fiery devil, 
it pervades every part of the bodily organi- 
zation. It seizes upon the blood, the very 



6 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

life of man, and along its currents it carries 
the infection through every vein and tissue ; 
and coursing its way through the spinal 
column, it seizes upon the citadel of man's 
power, the brain, and if unchecked and 
unsubdued, paralyzes and enfeebles the 
organs of thought as well as action. When 
the evidences of such destruction are 
daily presented to our view, can the physi- 
cian overestimate the importance of the 
mission to which he is called, and can he, 
if possessed of a spark of manly feeling, 
shrink, through a false estimate of profes- 
sional pride, to give to such cases the very 
best efforts of his professional skill ? 
Human health and life are equally dear to 
all. The wealthy merchant, the venerable 
clergyman, — the centre and delight of a 
highly cultivated and fashionable congre- 
gation, — the millionaire, reclining at his 
ease in his sumptuous " stone front/ 7 may, 
and do ; from their position and power of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 7 

their wealth, command the attendance and 
exercise of the best skill the country can 
produce ; and the petted favorite of such 
exalted patronage is looked upon as 
particularly fortunate, and eminence is 
awarded to him, simply because Croesus 
and Dives head the list of his patrons. 
The equally, and frequently more skilful 
physician, who, with a strong and manly 
heart, and firm hand, nerves himself to a 
daily and hourly contest with disease, the 
result of libidinous desires and unholy 
passions, is looked upon too frequently 
with scorn, and treated as an empiric 
because he advertises to the world his 
ability and willingless to treat those cases 
which his more delicate and sensitive 
brethren regard with contempt. For 
myself, I am ready to alleviate human 
misery and distress wherever it may be 
found, and in whatever form it may 
present itsel£ I have seen as much 



8 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

sincere goodness, as much downright hon- 
esty, elevated and high-toned principle and 
friendship in the unhappy victims of vene- 
real and syphilitic diseases, as in any 
people I have had to deal with. 

For the rescue of the miserable victims 
of intemperance, laws are enacted, which 
have engrossed the time and attention of 
legislators, session after session ; bodies 
of executive officers, costly to be main- 
tained, are organized and set in motion ; 
retreats and asylums are established, and 
whole communities and States are con- 
vulsed, from centre to circumference, with 
the exciting questions of prohibition or 
non-prohibition, license or no license, and 
the advocates of temperance are canonized 
as the apostles of all good. Yet a social 
evil of far greater magnitude than any 
caused by mere intemperance in the use 
of alcoholic and stimulating drinks, stalks 
abroad in our midst at noon-day, at even- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 9 

tide, and in the still watches of the night, 
selecting its victims from the young, the 
beautiful and the lovely. The heart of 
society is cankered to its core, and he who 
devotes himself to assuage, eradicate, and 
stay this great evil, is denounced as a 
quack, or perhaps shunned as an ignorant 
pretender. For one I am willing to bear 
the imputation, so long as / know that I 
am benefitting my fellow men. Thirty 
years of professional intercourse and deal- 
ing with this unfortunate class of patients, 
have taught me lessons which neither 
books nor the more learned of my fellow- 
men could furnish ; and the best tribute of 
thanks which I can render them now, is 
that, whilst in the full meridian of life, 
with faculties ripened and matured, and in 
the enjoyment of a full and lucrative 
business, I devote the leisure hours that 
may be afforded me, in furnishing to them 
and all others who may be interested in the 



10 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

subject, such advice, counsels, and direc- 
tions, as will enable them to avoid those 
dangerous strands and breakers upon 
which so many have suffered shipwreck. 

By this I do not wish to have it under- 
stood that I design to furnish such a 
book as will enable any one to " doctor 
himself. 77 Very far from it. Of all the 
mischiefs resulting from any of the dis- 
eases incident to early imprudence, ex- 
cessive indulgence, or unclean sexual 
intercourse, not the least are those conse- 
quent upon the application of supposed 
remedies unadvised by a competent physi- 
cian. There can hardly occur any degree 
of infection, however slight, but at once 
demands the inspection and the treatment 
of one able at .a glance, to see the 
extent of the danger, and restrain its 
further ravages. Men are crippled, their 
features and limbs distorted for life, simply 
because of some self-application of corro- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 11 

sive and dangerous mineral preparations 
by those who have become infected; and 
who, in the first moments of alarm, have, 
with a view to the concealment of their 
condition, resorted to these poisonous and 
deadly drugs for relief. Cases which, 
even if let alone to pursue the work of 
destruction unmolested, could not have 
assumed more dangerous or disgusting 
forms, have, by a dangerous and unwise 
meddling with, been driven into the 
system, distributing the virus to every 
vital part, until, from what was at first 
a mild attack in its simplest form, the 
victim is now enveloped in a flame from 
which he can be rescued only by the 
boldest and most courageous efforts. 

Neither is it my intention to pander 
to a prurient and debased curiosity and 
appetite, which seeks gratification in the 
perusal of books devoted to subjects 
ordinarily supposed to come within the 



12 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

range of the physician's or midwife's care 
and attention exclusively. My design will 
be simply to point out the various dis- 
orders and complaints incident to youth 
and manhood, through an abuse, over- 
indulgence, or unguarded indulgence of 
the generative organs. To do this I do 
not deem it at all necessary that I shall t 
enter into all the minutise. of their anatomi- 
cal structure, nor into a pathological 
description and inquiry as to the origin 
and character of the diseases themselves. 
I am not writing for doctors nor learned 
professors of physiological and pathological 
science, but for those who, unlearned and 
unskilled in all these matters, are, after 
once being satisfied that help is requisite 
in their cases, to be restored to health, 
if at all, it must be by the. counsels and 
guidance of another, and that, the physician 
of their choice. 

Setting aside for the present all allusions 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 13 

to hereditary taint and disease, and addres- 
sing myself chiefly to those presumed to 
have received from their parents at least 
an ordinary healthy and strong constitu- 
tion, I believe I do not err in the opinion 
that, not one in fifty has escaped the in- 
fluence of evil example, or, through such 
faultless physical training as not to have 
frequently indulged in, if not become 
addicted to, the habits of masturbation. 
I make use of this term because I believe 
it to be generally understood by the most 
artless and inexperienced. The artificial 
forms of living, the universal use of stimu- 
lating food and drinks, the intimate and 
unguarded association of the sexes in all 
the various forms of social and fashionable 
life, have been, and are such as to lead to 
a premature development of the virile 
passions and desires which, implanted in 
our nature for the sole purposes of pro- 
creation, and the perpetuation of the human 



14 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

species, have, under this unnatural and 
premature stimulus, suggested the artifi- 
cial and ready means of relief in self-pollu- 
tion and abuse. Whilst the boy has been 
tenderly and carefully trained in every- 
thing else necessary to the full and useful 
development of all his faculties, by a fatal 
mistake, arising through ignorance on the 
part of parents and guardians, this great 
evil has been ignored, and left to pursue 
its deadly ravages unchecked. Physiology 
and the laws of life ; the very uses of the 
organs of procreation, other than for pur- 
poses of bodily evacuation, have been stu- 
diously concealed from our youth, and they 
have been left to acquire from associates 
and evil example a knowledge of vices and 
habits which, before they are aware of it, 
and long ere their natural guardians have 
any suspicions of it, have laid the founda- 
tion of a train of evils and diseases which, 
if unchecked, will inevitably lead to early 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 15 

decay and death. How many of these 
victims have I known, whose broken down 
constitutions, indicated by the faltering 
gait, the vacant stare, and almost idiotic 
countenance, are pointed out as objects 
of commiseration, because of a supposed 
too close application to study and an over- 
tasked brain ; and the cause of their failure 
in life attributed to anything but the true 
one. I do not now remember that out of 
the thousands of cases in which I have 
been consulted, and where this vice has 
been the chief, and perhaps the only cause 
of disease and trouble, but it has turned 
out in the course of my examination that this 
habit has been indulged in innocently, and 
from an entire ignorance of its deadly and 
fearful consequences. " Had I have known, 
had I have been forewarned, what a world 
of misery and wretchedness I should have 
escaped/ 7 has been the invariable exclama- 
tion of those from whom I have " wormed 



16 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

out/' as it were, the secret history of their 
past habits and indulgences. My reader, 
Jet me put the question to you. It is not 
necessary that I should put you under a 
rigid examination to extort from you, by 
an artful system of professional inquiry, 
whether you are faultless in this respect. 
It is not necessary that I should inquire of 
you whether the weakness in the back, 
the pains in side and breast, the troubled 
sleep, the lascivious dreams, the fading and 
disordered vision, and the wavering mind, 
the disinclination to society, and gradual 
failure of all manly power of which you 
complain, are attributable to this vice or 
not ! You know. Memory and reason 
have not yet become unseated, and the 
past is open before you; and you may 
trace, as in an open book, the records of 
those early indulgences and youthful indis- 
cretions which have, step by step, con- 
ducted you to the precipice upon which 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 17 

you now stand. It is to you these pages 
are addressed. You have long felt that 
you were on untenable ground, and that 
everything before you was dark and dreary 
as the grave to which you looked forward 
as a last and almost welcome refuge from 
the pains and miseries of life. Were the 
consequences limited only to yourself, the 
pangs of remorse, as well as the pains 
arising from your numerous ills, might be 
patiently, even if hopelessly borne ; but if, 
as is most likely to be the case, there is 
another interested in your happiness, or 
what is equally as unfortunate, whose hap- 
piness is dependent upon your fulfilment 
of plighted vows for reciprocal affection, 
how wretched is your lot. By your own 
hands you have placed a barrier between 
yourself and the accomplishment of your 
brightest earthly hopes. You know your- 
self to be unequal to the performance of 
all the duties of manhood in the interest* 



18 r MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ing relation to which you have pledged 
yourself, and you shrink back appalled at 
the very idea of exposing your impotency 
and lack of ability honorably and manfully 
to complete the engagement you have 
contracted. Evasion, despair, dishonor, sui- 
cide and death, are by turns contemplated, 
until, in the horrible conflict, the body be- 
comes a weary burden, and reason no 
longer guides you by its dictates. You 
struggle on like the blind man in the 
morass, until your every effort at escape 
only sinks you deeper and deeper into the 
slough in which you are engulfed. Young 
man, this is no fancy sketch. It is the 
secret history of thousands and tens of 
thousands, and among whom you are per- 
haps numbered. If this is so, then it is 
time, and more than time, that you availed 
yourself of the helps which medical science 
holds out to rescue you from the impending 
destruction of your mental and physical 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 19 

faculties, and restore you to yourself, to 
your friends, and to society, a renovated, 
sound, and saved human being. 

I think it not necessary for me to go 
through all the details of the steps through 
which you were gradually initiated into 
the mysteries of unlawful pleasures, nor 
the symptoms of those diseases which too 
surely are ever-ready attendants upon 
their votaries. I would not entirely sup- 
press the ardors of youth by ascetic rules 
nor monastic vows. I understand human 
nature, and take it as I find it, and hence 
I have a large charity for those who, 
impelled by irresistible desires and strong 
temptations are led into danger. But I do 
most earnestly wish to benefit them never- 
theless. 

My desire to make myself thoroughly 
understood, and not commit myself to the 
charge of indelicacy, by the use of lan- 
guage which might exclude this treatise 



20 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

from unconcealed and open perusal, 
renders it somewhat difficult for me to 
express myself upon all those interesting 
topics embraced within the scope of the 
investigations upon which we are now 
engaged. I have called your attention to 
the great vice of solitary indulgence, and 
have incidentally referred to it as resulting 
in creating impediments to marriage, dan- 
gerous to health, and difficult to be sur- 
mounted. I must go further, and instruct 
you that, however great and serious 
these obstacles are, if they are properly 
attacked before they culminate in entire 
impotency and imbecility, there are reme- 
dies lately discovered by myself which, in 
connection with proper diet and regimen ; 
the powers of the body thus prematurely 
weakened and impaired, may be restored 
to their former activity and strength; and 
that, too, without resorting to any of those 
offensive mechanical means and appliances 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 21 

which formerly were so much relied upon.* 
Neither am I an advocate of constant drug- 
ging, and the administration of stimulating 
cordials, to effect this object. I had tried 
all the usual and well-known remedies 
hitherto regarded as infallible and specific 
in their re-invigoration of prematurely 
exhausted manhood, and was pained to find 
that with them, as with almost all tonics 
and stimulating preparations which have a 
direct tendency to, and action upon those 
parts supposed the most to need their 
immediate application and restoring quali- 

*Note. — An attempt has recently been made to 
resuscitate the use of certain mechanical contrivances 
or "new patent apparatus," for the treatment of 
spermatorrhoea and other forms of seminal weakness, 
without the use of medicines. I would earnestly 
caution my readers to avoid a resort to any such 
dangerous and useless experiments. Their mischiev- 
ous tendency was long ago made apparent by the 
highest surgical authority, and none but the most 
reckless speculator in human health, would, at this 
advanced day of medical science, seek to revive 
such an old, exploded fallacy. 



22 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ties, the reaction was too violent, and that 
their repeated use gradually undermined 
the very foundation of power, until finally 
there was nothing left to animate and 
excite. During many years of my prac- 
tice I had this difficulty to contend with. 
The medicinal virtues of every vegetable 
substance, embracing roots, barks, flowers, 
and berries, were carefully investigated and 
ascertained, and whilst they yielded many 
and most valuable additions to my stock 
of remedies, and to our national pharmaco- 
poea, none of them came up to my wishes 
in imparting, without the subsequent reac- 
tion, those restoring and strengthening 
powers so desirable to be secured, and 
without which no amount of care, careful 
nursing, diet, with all the adjuncts of 
well-timed and regulated hours for sleep, 
exercise, and recreation, seemed to be 
available. Not content with ransacking 
the whole botanical kingdom of this coun- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 23 

try, I expended thousands of dollars in 
pushing my investigations to other and 
more distant climes, until at length my 
persistence and perseverance were re- 
warded in the discovery of what I had so 
long sought, — a purely vegetable prepara- 
tion of surpassing curative and tonic prop- 
erties, as healthful, soothing, and beneficial 
in its operations upon the mind and nervous 
system as it is almost magically efficacious 
in its healing powers when administered 
as a remedy in the cases to which I have 
just alluded. Alone, or in its judicious 
mixture with other well-known remedies, 
enabling it to produce its effects, just in 
proportion to the nature and tenacity of the 
disease, has satisfied me that, in it, the 
the great desideratum of accomplishing a 
perfect cure of almost all the infirmities 
arising from the indulgence of solitary 
vice, as well as all nervous, sexual, and 
cutaneous diseases, has been at last dis- 



24 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

covered. For many years, at great ex- 
pense, 1 have laid in my supplies of this 
invaluable product of nature ; and although 
I have resorted to its use, in thousands of 
cases where the genito-urinal organs were 
affected, or where, through them, other 
parts of the system, or the general health 
of the body was suffering, I have rarely 
failed to find it accomplish all, and even 
more, than I had hoped for. And here let 
me remark, that, in a general way I am no 
advocate for, nor do I countenance the 
use of strange and unfamiliar remedies. 
Neither do I deal in or use such. But the 
fruits of my own researches and discover- 
ies in the botanical kingdom, which is 
alike free to all, I must be allowed to 
enjoy. If I have, prompted by a greater 
zeal, and animated by a stronger desire 
for success and professional distinction, 
and by the expenditure of much valuable 
time, and large sums of money, secured a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 25 

valuable adjunct in the cure of disease, I 
feel no compunctions whatever in retaining 
in my own hands, during my lifetime, the 
exclusive use and emoluments arising 
from my discovery. Certain I am, that no 
human being, besides myself, possesses my 
secret. The various forms and propor- 
tions in which I have administered this 
invaluable remedy, and the astonishing, as 
well as gratifying results produced by it, 
have led me to still farther prosecute my 
experiments with it in almost every stage 
and grade of seminal and sexual disease, 
where the propriety of tonic and invigor- 
ating remedies are called for,* and having 



* Frederic C Skey, C. B. E. R. S., Consulting 
Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, etc., in one 
of his clinical lectures contends strongly in favor of 
tonic treatment in gonorrhoea and gleet, and not with- 
out a good show of reason. He says, " When a case 
of gonorrhoea runs into gleet, weeks and months may 
be required for its cure, whereas primary gleet is 
usually curable in a fortnight or three weeks. The 
difference between primary and secondary gleet de- 



26 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

used it now for many years, in both sexes, 
of almost every age, am prepared to say 
that, it is far superior to any other remedy 
of which I have any knowledge. That 
most distressing form of seminal debility, 
which results from an involuntary and fre- 
quent discharge from the urinary organs, 
is checked by it as if by the hand of 
Omnipotence itself, whilst the cheerful and 
exhilarating effects which it produces in 
all the functions of life, especially upon 
the brain, equalizing and moderating all the 
passions, and allaying all the causes of 



pends on the previous treatment of the gonorrhoea. 
If, in consonance with a too prevalent pathology, we 
class a case of gonorrhoea among the inflammatory 
diseases, and treat it with supposed antiphlegmonous 
agents, among which may be included purgative and 
other depletive medicines, reduced diet, vegetable 
food, and the entire suspension of vinous and fer- 
mented drinks, which have hitherto formed a part of 
the daily diet of the affected per sons, — then, as a rule, 
the active gonorrhoea runs into gleet, and the same 
remedies being continued, the gleet will be protracted 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 27 

undue excitement, so that those parts and 
organs, hitherto enfeebled through excess 
and disease, have time to recuperate, and 
are enabled to resume their natural func- 
tions. Although I can well say, with a 
distinguished writer upon these topics, 
that I have found no royal plan of accom- 
plishing a speedy, or certain removal in all 
cases of the maladies under consideration, 
without the exercise of great patience and 
care, and that no man who possesses true 
medical and surgical skill will confine him- 
self exclusively tc a few medicinal sub- 



to the extent of weeks, months, and in some constitu- 
tions, even of years. When I was on duty in the out- 
patient department at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 
a man applied for treatment for a gleet of three 
years duration. He belonged to a large brewery on 
the mile-end-road, and had been accustomed to drink 
two quarts daily of strong ale, but had, by medical 
order totally abstained from his accustomed drink 
from the commencement of his malady. I ordered 
him to return immediately to his former beverage. 
Within a fortnight he had entirely recovered." — 
London Lancet, Dec. 1870. 



28 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

stances that may have acquired notoriety 
as specifics, yet I can truly say that, in a 
more extended practice than has been vouch- 
safed to the generality of the profession, 
since my discovery of the remedy alluded 
to, I have met with greater success, and 
fewer defeats in subduing this form of dis- 
ease, than I had before. Its great recom- 
mendation is, that, under no possible cir- 
cumstances can it do any harm, and, unlike 
the common and standard medicines, al- 
most always given and regarded as speci- 
fics, especially by those charlatans who 
infest every large city, it does not, and 
cannot, of itself, create inflammation and 
apparent disease, to enable an unscrupulous 
medical attendant to excite the fears, and 
frighten the patient into a protracted 
course of treatment, having for its object 
only the creation of a heavy bill to the 
pecuniary benefit of the practitioner. 
Patients, however, must not be led into 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. . 29 

the error that diseases of this kind are to 
be subdued instanter. In a large majority 
of cases the physician is not called upon un- 
til the patient, especially if he be a novice 
in these matters, has taken some time to. 
speculate upon the nature of the complaint 
that is upon him ; and is then restrained 
by feelings of shame and mortification, 
from making his condition known, or has 
tried his own skill, or some favorite remedy 
suggested by a friendly companion, in ex- 
pectation that he will be spared the inflic- 
tion as well as the expense of a professional 
consultation in regard to it ; or, if he has 
resolved upon the latter course, precious 
time is lost in solving his doubts as to 
whom it will be the most advantageous to 
apply. The ordinary family physician, 
whose countenance and ways are as fami- 
liar to him as one of his " own folks," is 
not for a moment to be thought of. His 
first promptings will be to call upon some 



30 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

one whose exalted standing and reputation 
as a physician, and position in society as a 
high-minded and honorable man, would be 
all-sufficient, not only to insure proper 
medical treatment, but in whose keeping, 
his character and reputation would be safe 
from exposure ; for, it is a painful truth, 
that the suspicion of being the victim of 
secret disease is too often the cause of 
exclusion from society, and the coolness 
and neglect of former friends. The whole 
proceeding is the result, not only of inex- 
perience, but is imprudent and unwise 
from beginning to end. In no other affair 
of importance do we act with so little dis- 
cretion, and are so little guided by the 
prudential maxims of every day life. 
Ordinarily we would not apply to a learned 
and philosophic professor of speculative 
science, however wide his fame, to repair 
our chronometer, or to polish a diamond, 
simply, because he is not supposed to pos- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 31 

sess the mechanical skill and ingenuity 
necessary to the performance of such a 
piece of work. We seek out our ship- 
wright, or carpenter, tailor and other me- 
chanics, each according to their several 
trades, because as such they are known to 
be skilful and reliable. Such should also 
be our course in regard to our physician ; 
and in the medical and surgical treatment 
of those terrible and life-destroying dis- 
eases of which we are now speaking, we 
should only resort to those who have gained 
their knowledge of all the peculiarities of 
these dread diseases by long and careful 
study, and an exclusive attention to them, 
enabling them from experience, rather than 
from books, to conquer the destroyer, in 
all the varied forms it is accustomed to 
present itself. 

During the thirty years of my practice 
in this city the records of my business will 
show a list of nearly one hundred thousand 



32 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

patients, comprising those affected with 
every stage and degree of private and 
sexual disease ; and certainly not one of 
the many who are styled advertising doc- 
tors can boast of such voluminous episto- 
lary correspondence as I have been obliged 
to keep up in connection with this exten- 
sive business. Although, as a general 
rule, I destroy all communications, where 
it is evident that the writer is particularly 
anxious for concealment, yet in many 
cases of especial interest, where the letters 
only embrace matters connected with the 
case and cure, I have preserved them as 
grateful recollections of the benefits I have 
conferred upon my fellow-men, and as hon- 
orable trophies of my success. Were not 
the fashion a hackneyed one, and open to 
the charge of fabrication for mere effect, 
I should reproduce here more of this cor- 
respondence, to confirm what I have said 
in regard to the happy and astonishing 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 33 

cures performed by me, chiefly through 
those remedies known only to myself, and 
discovered by me through years of sleep- 
less toil, self-denial, investigation, and un- 
sparing pecuniary outlay. But I forbear, 
well knowing how liable such displays are 
to be misunderstood, and their truthfulness 
misrepresented by the envious and unsuc- 
cessful. 



34 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CHAPTER II. 

THUS far I have limited my appeal 
chiefly to the young, and have refered 
only to the milder forms of secret disease, 
which, although less fatal in their imme- 
diate effects, if promptly and properly 
attended to, yet do, if neglected, misman- 
aged, or tampered with, lead to most dis- 
tressing and often fatal consequences. I 
shall now proceed a degree further, and 
approaching the full-grown man, speak of 
the more terrific forms of this destroyer, 
such as it presents itself in all its power 
of evil and destructive might. If happily 
the youth has escaped, " as by fire/ 7 and in 
the consciousness of renewed powers and 
a purified body, has arrived at manhood, 
and assumed the cares and responsibilities 
of a husband and a father, he is still liable 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 35 

to the same temptations ; and what ever may 
be said of the folly or guilt to be attached to 
his conduct, may again become the victim 
of unclean and diseased sexual association. 
This time, however, it comes upon him, not 
in the simple form of a suspicious excre- 
tion of a viscid matter, staining his ap- 
parel, and tormenting him in the perform- 
ance of one of nature's offices, but has 
seized upon him in some one of those for- 
midable forms which, if unrestrained, even 
at the moment of attack, is most certain to 
eat its way to and through every part and 
organ of the machinery of life, until its 
hapless victim is laid out a poor deformed 
and crippled wreck of humanity, a loathing 
to himself, and a burden, and perhaps scorn 
to all with whom he is connected. When 
the individual finds himself in this condi- 
tion, the instinct of self-preservation at 
once prompts him to fly to the first sug- 
gested means of relief; and every country 



36 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

practitioner has ready at hand a mercurial 
preparation of some kind, found in the 
books ever since the art of printing was 
invented, and the science of medicine and 
surgery came out of the hands of barbers 
and apothecaries, and assumed the charac- 
ter of a separate and independent profes- 
sion. It is useless to say that, that in 
ninety-nine cases out of the hundred, 
these old stereotyped prescriptions and 
remedies which, fifty years ago would 
occasionally effect a cure, are now, owing 
to the constant change which has been 
going on in the nature of these diseases, 
as inert and ineffectual to produce a cure 
as simple as water itself; and any one may 
now daily witness in the mutilated figures 
of many a passer along the thronged 
thoroughfares of our large cities, the 
horrid effects of mercurial preparations 
which have only succeeded in overpower- 
ing one disease by the substitution of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 37 

another, none the less fearful, and equally 
as destructive as the first. As I am not 
writing a pathological guide for the use of 
the medical practitioner, it is not my de- 
sign, as before intimated, to confuse and 
embarrass the general reader by a method- 
ical classification of symptoms and diseases. 
This is too often attempted by those who, 
by the use of technical and scientific terms, 
seek only to display their own attainments, 
and to lead others to think that they are 
wondrous wise. My effort will be to make 
myself understood in plain, simple lan- 
guage, so that the afflicted may readily 
comprehend the true nature of his situa- 
tion, the evils by which he is threatened, 
and the proper course to pursue in the 
painful emergency in which he is placed. 
In the progress of this horrible disease to 
which I am now calling your attention, no 
part of the human system escapes contami- 
nation, nor fails to sympathize with the 



38 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

local parts more immediately attacked. 
The virus is almost immediately transfered 
by the touch, by the irrepressible propen- 
sity felt to handle and examine the diseased 
parts, to almost every other portion of the 
body susceptible of contagion or innocula- 
tion, until the lips, nose, throat, eyes, and 
every opening and cavity of the body is 
contaminated by the deadly virus ; whilst 
within, it is being circulated by the vital 
current, the blood, into all parts of the 
system. At this stage of the disease, no 
palliating nor half-way measures can stop 
its ravages. Self-treatment, guided and 
directed as it may be, by a consultation of 
the whole list of medical authorities, is 
utterless powerless. The caprices and 
changes characteristic of the complaint, 
are such that, only the experienced practi- 
tioner can detect its true character, and 
direct with certainty the artillery neces- 
sary to its overthrow. There is hardly a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 39 

day passes that I am not consulted by more 
or less of those who, neglecting the first ap- 
proaches of this insidious destroyer, are so 
far enveloped in its embraces as to them 
it appears almost impossible to be cured. 
But when I have exhibited to them the 
incontestible evidences of the cures per- 
formed by me, of cases in many instances 
as severe as their own, they have mani- 
fested a joy which no pen can describe. 
Certainly it would have been better for 
them, as it would be more agreeable to me, 
had I have been consulted at an earlier 
period ; but, nevertheless, whatever may 
have been the cause of neglect or delay, I 
am positive that the disease cannot long 
resist the almost immediate, powerful, and 
searching operation of the remedies which 
I apply. So far from resorting to those 
painful and severe caustic applications 
hitherto so common, and usually regarded 
as indispensable, I proceed by mild, emo- 



40 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Kent, and soothing preparations for exter- 
nal treatment, which, aided by an internal 
administration of my great remedy, pre- 
pared in just the proper proportion, in con- 
nection with other healing and balsamic 
productions of the vegetable kingdom, all 
inflammatory action is at once quietly sub- 
dued. The tonic properties of the medi- 
cine is at once imparted to the system, the 
digestive organs become cleansed and reg- 
ulated, and perform all their functions like 
a charm ; and the curative and healing 
process goes on quite rapidly, and in exact 
accordance with nature's laws. By a strict 
adherence to the conditions necessary to 
be observed in the process of treatment, it 
is absolutely impossible that any failure or 
disappointment should occur ; and what is 
most singular, where once this rare prepar- 
ation has taken an effectual hold upon the 
system, not only does it drive off the loath- 
some disease, but it fortifies and strength- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 41 

ens the parts hitherto affected and en- 
feebled, so that, in a wonderfully short 
space of time they are restored to their 
pristine vigor, and no traces remain of the 
malady which so recently threatened so 
much devastation and ruin. Of all ages 
and classes of men upon whom the ravages 
of the sexual diseases are to be feared, 
there are none to whom it is so dangerous 
as to those in the meridian of life. This is 
doubly the case when the individual is at 
the head of a family. Not limited to him- 
self; his wife, the lawful partner of his 
bosom and the mother of his children, is 
in danger of infection. Their natural pro- 
tector and guardian, he finds himself the 
bearer in his own body of a virus more to 
be dreaded than that of the deadly upas. 
His social and domestic enjoyments are 
broken in upon by this foul fiend, and if he 
once yields to the solicitations of love, and 
in an unguarded moment gives way to its 



42 MEDICAL ADVISEK. 

gratification, the envenomed shaft has 
reached another victim, and beings yet 
unborn are not only possibly, but probably, 
made to share, in his infection. There is 
nothing more certain than that this disease 
is thus propagated from sire to son, through 
many generations, and that scrofula, in 
almost all the hideous forms in which it 
developes itself, such as tubercular con- 
sumption, weak, sore and inflamed eyes, 
the early falling off of the hair, deafness, 
chronic and inflammatory rheumatism, spi- 
nal diseases of all kinds, are more or less 
frequently the direct consequences of the 
parent's indiscretion and disease, years 
before his ill-fated offspring ever saw the 
light of day. When I have indicated such 
fearful results as springing from a single 
cause, it cannot be necessary that I should 
again urge upon my reader the absolute 
necessity that, if he has unfortunately 
"been caught/ 7 there should be no de- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 43 

lay in his struggles to escape, and that 
his strength should not be wasted in mis^ 
guided and misdirected efforts to attain 
that end. A single false step may plunge 
him into irretrievable misery and bodily ruin. 
No art can restore the mulitated face, the 
palsied limb, the vivacious countenance, 
or the sparkling eye, when once this dis- 
ease has passed over them, and has left 
the impress of its poisonous seal. There 
is no rescue or salvation except in the 
immediate application of curative means ; 
and all medical history and testimony will 
tell you that, up to this time, with all ordi- 
nary practising physicians, there has been 
no specific remedy found for this disease 
upon which any reliance could be placed, 
except in those rare cases in which mer- 
cury, in some of its many forms or combi- 
nations with other hardly less deleterious 
substances, have been found effectual ; and 
then only, in overpowering the disease by 



44 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

substituting in very many instances another 
and almost equally dangerous one in its 
stead. Every person of common intelli- 
gence is aware that, what are generally 
termed mercurial diseases are of themselves 
the most distressing, troublesome, and pro- 
tracted of those the physician is called 
upon to treat. Painful, and even disgust- 
ing sores, eruptions, and discolorations of 
the skin, extreme susceptibility to atmos- 
pheric changes, sharp and shooting pains 
in the joints and limbs, frequent recur- 
rence of torpidity in all the digestive 
organs, dyspepsia, with its long catalogue 
of horrors, exfoliations of portions of the 
bones, particularly in those parts especi- 
ally exposed to observation ; these, and 
many more, too numerous to mention, are 
but a part of the serious evils arising from 
the indriscriminate use which has been 
made of this powerful drug in the cure of 
private diseases. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 45 

With what joy and gratitude then, should 
mankind hail the discovery of a system of 
thorough cure, unattended by any such 
dangers as I have described. A system so 
mild, so positively certain in its effects, 
and withal, so harmless as to be utterly in- 
capable of doing injury in any case what- 
ever. And then again, there are other 
consequences, not less serious and regreta- 
ble, entailing unhappiness and discontent 
in all subsequent life. Impotency, that 
bane of married life, is not an infrequent 
consequence of not only the diseases to 
which I have alluded, but of the very rem- 
edies which have been unwisely and un- 
skilfully administered for their cure. How 
many there are, who, in every other respect 
seem admirably mated, and in every way 
constituted to render each other happy, 
but whose desolate households indicate, 
but too surely, the cause of domestic dis- 
quietude, or an aching void, which can 



4G MEDICAL ADVISER. 

only be filled by healthy and beautiful 
offspring. 

Whatever may be the worldly circum- 
stances of those who have entered into 
marriage relation, the perpetuation of 
themselves in their children is one of the 
very first promptings of their hearts ; and 
failing in this, the domestic hearthstone 
becomes cheerless, and the gifts of fortune, 
however numerous, are comparatively val- 
ueless and lightly esteemed. It is in 
cases of this kind that my remedies have 
proved of priceless and inestimable value. 
It matters not from what cause the inability 
may arise, whether from previous disease, 
or the injurious effects of unwholsome and 
poisonous drugs, or the weakening and 
disorganizing effects of early habits. I 
have never yet failed to reconstruct and 
restore the enfeebled powers to effective 
vitality, and to enable the husband to be 
in a condition not only fully to enjoy all 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 47 

the pleasing concomitants of wedded life, 
but to realize his dearest wishes in the 
ability to propagate his species, and to 
raise up children to cheer, bless, and com- 
fort him in his old age. That this can be 
done most happily and effectively, without 
resource to any painful surgical operation, 
without resorting to those tonics and stim- 
ulants which, after producing a momentary 
excitement, leaves the patient more ex- 
hausted and enfeebled than before, I know ; 
and there are hundreds now living within 
but a very narrow circuit of the place I 
now write, who can bear joyful testimony 
to the truth of my assertions. 

Let no one despair of help, for I assure 
him that, unless nature herself has been 
wanting in her usual gifts, and some such 
unwonted calamity as emasculation has 
taken place, I can most certainly restore 
all his lost or waning powers, and render 
him happy and hopeful in that home where 



48 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

before, lie was cheerless and desponding. 
That this deficiency or loss of power may 
become more obdurate, and less easy to 
overcome, by omiting seasonably to resort 
to curative means, is also certain; hence 
the necessity of attending to it as soon as 
the difficulty is known to exist. Delay 
only renders its removal a more protracted 
and aggravating process, whilst it cuts 
short days and years of bliss which might 
otherwise be enjoyed. Persons who find 
themselves incapacitated to a full fecunda- 
tive exercise of all the virile functions, 
should never rest satisfied short of a com- 
plete restoration of all their faculties ; and 
to effect this through the safest and surest 
means should be to them a matter of the 
gravest consideration. Almost every lo- 
cality, and especially our large cities, are 
literally crowded and overrun with un- 
principled adventurers, whose pretentious 
abilities are to the well read physician, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 49 

equally preposterous and absurd. They 
are men like those who 

' ' Steal the livery of heaven to serve the devil in," 
and seek to enshroud their former insignifi- 
cance and obscurity in some name, the pos- 
sessor of which may at one time have had 
some distinction as a medical practitioner. 
These imposters and scourges of society way- 
lay and beset the invalid and the suffering at 
every turn, and most unfortunate is the 
credulous and unsophisticated wight who 
suffers himself thus to be entrapped. Not 
one in fifty of them can boast of a single 
degree of medical knowledge or skill be- 
yond that acquired perhaps as servant to 
some invalid, or gained from a superficial 
study of some old book of useful receipts 
which has alone constituted his whole med- 
ical library. Of this class of pretenders 
you cannot be too guarded. Of such it 
may be truly said : " They allure with a 
look, a wink, a nod. Hell does not contain 



50 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

so foul a fiend, nor earth so fell a foe ; the 
helpless and unfortunate are their victims, 
murder is their employment, and death 
their sport." I would not lay such stress 
upon this caution against empiricism and 
quackery, did not every day's experience 
more fully demonstrate to me the vast 
amount of mischief perpetrated by these 
reckless adventurers. Cases in which, had 
a thoroughly skilled specialist been consul- 
ted, in the first instance, would, with but 
little loss of time, and but moderate ex- 
pense, been rapidly made to give way to 
the proper medical treatment, have, through 
sheer ignorance, been made to assume 
forms so disgusting, repulsive, and danger- 
ous, that I have long hesitated to assume 
the responsibility of prescribing for them. 
Intimately connected with those diseases 
having their origin in impure sexual inter- 
course, are others, which, though not 
traceable to the same cause, are none the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 51 

less troublesome and very often the means 
not only of aggravating the sexual dis- 
eases,, but tending to complicate them and 
perplex the medical attendant, as well as 
to create greater distress and pain to the 
sufferer himself. Watery collections in and 
between those parts constituting the geni- 
tal organs in man, are frequent ; and some- 
times the causes are so involved in obscur- 
ity that the most skilful surgeons are often 
at a loss how to account for them. This 
difficulty, known to medical men under the 
name of hydrocele, has ever been regarded 
by the profession as incurable by medical 
treatment, and only yielding to a surgical 
operation. Palliatives are resorted to, and 
the inconveniences arising from it obviated 
in part by drawing off the contents of the 
sac by a trocar, and by such other mechan- 
ical appliances as the ingenuity of the 
practitioner may suggest. The many ag- 
gravated cases of this kind which I have 



52 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

met with in my practice, the almost insu- 
perable bar presented by it to a successful 
treatment of a, contagious disease affecting 
the parts at the same time, the reluctance 
with which the patient would listen to any 
suggestions as to the employ of " instru- 
ments " or mechanical appliances for his 
relief, spurred me on to every effort in my 
power to relieve this very painful and dan- 
gerous disease. Nor have my researches 
been in vain. I have discovered remedies, 
by the proper administration of which, this 
complaint is made to disappear almost as 
rapidly as mist before the morning sun. 

The clumsy and expensive apparatus 
hitherto applied ; the dreaded trocar, the 
stimulating injections of former days, are 
entirely dispensed with, and by a medicine 
prepared only by myself, a process of 
absorption is engendered by which the 
disease is radically cured, almost uncon- 
sciously to the sufferer. And although I 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 53 

am constantly prescribing for, and treating 
it with the most signal success, and to the 
entire relief and satisfaction of my patients, 
and hundreds of my medical brethren are 
aware of the fact ; yet, if applied to them- 
selves, and enquired of as to their ability 
to cure it, reply, that medical treatment 
would be unavailing.* In view of these 

* Eor no disease am I more frequently called upon 
to prescribe than this very troublesome and painful 
complaint, Hydrocele ; a term applied to a chronic 
swelling produced by a collection of fluid in connec- 
tion with the testicle or spermatic cord. The forms, 
varieties and complications of this disease are so nu- 
merous that to name them to the general reader they 
would be difficult of comprehension and only per- 
plexing. It is one- of those disorders that should only 
be treated by the skilful practitioner, whose studies 
have been well fortified by an extensive experience. 
A swelled scrotum, or bag, on being shown to an ordi- 
nary physician, may be pronounced by him to be a 
case of hydrocele ; and so it may be. But can he tell 
you of what variety it is ? There is hydrocele of the 
testicle ; of the spermatic cord, and of the Hernial 
sac ; of the former there are different grades, such as 
the vaginal and encystid : these, distinguished further 
as, whether simple or congenital : of the Epididymis, 



54 " MEDICAL ADVISER. 

facts I feel impelled, from a sense of duty 
to suffering humanity, to invite every one 
afflicted with this complaint, to apply to 
me for relief. I will not merely refer them 
to testimonials of undoubted authenticity 
and credit as to what I have accomplished 
in this respect, but will convince them, by 
means easily to be comprehended, that this 



or the Tunica Albuginea; and so on; to name which 
would only perplex, not benefit the reader. Nor need 
I go into a particular detail of symptoms of this com- 
plaint; the sufferer is too readily apprized of them to 
need a very particular description. Acute pain and 
dragging down upon the spermatic cord, upon which 
the testicle is suspended. The testicle itself retreats, 
as it were, back of the centre of the bag, which begins 
gradually to enlarge with the accumulating serum, 
until at length, the annoyance, superadded to the pain, 
drives the sufferer to seek medical aid ; and there is 
hardly one in ten doctors to whom he would most 
likely apply, able to tell him whether his complaint is 
hydrocele, scrotal hernia, or malignant disease of the 
testicle. Usually, when a patient applies to a physi- 
cian or surgeon with hydrocele, he resorts at once 
to operative treatment; either palliative or radical. 
The palliative treatment is quite simple, of easy per- 
formance, and if proper care be taken, free from dan- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 55 

great desideratum in the healing art has at 
length been discovered. I know to what 
extent I incur the liability to the charge 
of egotism in making this assertion, and 
the slowness of the public to give credit 
to claims of extraordinary discoveries, 
especially in the treatment of those com- 
plaints which have so long baffled the skill 

ger ; but the relief it affords is only temporary. It 
consists in puncturing the sac, so as to allow the 
escape of the fluid, and thus reduce the size of the 
annoyance. By some, injections are resorted to. 
Within the last ten years they have been extensively 
tried in Europe, and with a success that has led to 
their pretty general use in this country, — but I do 
not advise them. I have found that a process of ab- 
sorption may be induced which does away with all this 
mutilation, pain, and danger, always incident to a sur- 
gical operation. After many years careful and exact 
trial of every hitherto tried means of reducing this 
disorder by mechanical remedies, I am satisfied that 
there are but few of its forms in which proper thereoe- 
putic remedies only will be needed to effect a cure. 
Within the last year I have treated some sixty cases, 
and in none have I been obliged to resort to the knife 
or trocar. 

In confirmation of what I have said above in regard 



56 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

of the most renowned physicians; but 
they must remember that such has been 
the case in every age of the world ; and 
that Darwin and Harvey, and Jenner, are 
not alone in having been the butts of ridi- 
cule and persecution, because of their dis- 
coveries and efforts to benefit mankind by 
the introduction of new modes of warding 
off and curing disease. No dread of ridi- 
cule, nor the opposition of those who con- 



to the treatment of hydrocele, I only need refer my 
readers to what the most of them have frequently 
heard of, at least as to the results of " tapping" in 
cases of dropsy. How often do we read in the news- 
papers that such and such a person who has died of 
dropsy, has had gallon after gallons of water taken 
from him hy " tapping," until the quantity has become 
almost too enormous for belief. The truth is that 
such operations are only palliatives, and induce a 
greater secretion ; thus puncturing in hydrocele simply 
operates as a duct and stimulent for the serum to 
settle in the scrotum, and a tendency to do it. Eadi- 
cal treatment changes this tendency, and by a process 
of absorption diffuses the fluids, so that they may be 
excreted through the natural outlets, such as the skin, 
urinary passages, sputum, etc. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 57 

sider themselves as exclusively authorized 
to prescribe for disease, shall ever deter 
me from thus boldly making known my 
ability to benefit my fellow-men. 

In the foregoing, so far as I have ad- 
dressed my self to those of middle life, whose 
physical organs have become matured, and 
in whom few or no organic changes are 
likely to occur for many years at least, I 
have called attention chiefly to such com- 
plaints and infirmities as immediately ac- 
company, or closely follow, those self-en- 
gendered and contagious diseases, the re- 
sults of careless and promiscuous connec- 
tion with those of the other sex. I have 
alluded also to the impediments which it 
creates to the formation of happy and per- 
manent domestic relations, and to the sat- 
isfactory performance of all that is meant 
and intended in the marriage rite ; and if 
1 have not catalogued all the miseries 
and evils flowing from the causes set forth, 



5$ MEDICAL ADVISER. 

it is not that I regard them as of minor 
importance, but it is that I have indulged the 
hope that no one in his sober senses, with 
such dangers impending over him as those 
which I have described, would, for a single 
hour, delay application to the proper source 
for relief. Varied, aggravated and accel- 
erated as they are in the different forms 
they assume, by reason of. temperament, 
diet, constitutional defects, and the usual 
pursuits of business or amusements, there 
is no perfect standard for measuring their 
intensity, save in the long-tried skill of 
practical experience ; and I do not here pur- 
pose to load your mind with complicated 
details and nice distinctions which to you 
would be entirely unintelligible, or, if un- 
derstood, you would not be able to derive 
from them any solution to the difficulties 
and dangers which encompass you. This 
can only be afforded you by competent 
medical aid ; and I now, in the full confi- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 59 

dence in my ability to relieve you of every 
trouble with which you are assailed, either 
now or in the prospective, invite } r ou to 
try those truly healing remedies of which 
I am the discoverer and only possessor. 
One of the greatest mistakes is that in 
which the victim imagines that if he dis- 
continues such violations of the laws of 
his being, and becomes more temperate, 
regular, and abstemious in the indulgence 
of his passions and appetites, that disease 
will disappear, and the recuperative powers 
of nature will remedy every evil. But it 
must be borne in mind that disease is not 
self-curing. The causes which have done 
the mischief and inflicted the injury must 
be removed before anything in the whole 
range of medical science can cure you. 
So long as there remains lurking in the 
system any relics of those fatal effects of 
the poison, engendered either by disease 
itself, or the improper remedies hitherto 



60 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

taken for your relief, you are in danger. 
Not only protracted and exquisitely painful 
complaints, such as chronic rheumatism, 
spinal affections, and the development of 
tubercular diseases, attack and threaten 
you with all their untold horrors and dan- 
gers, but death itself may warn you with 
its quick, sharp, paralytic stroke, that it is 
nigh at hand, and that the time for all 
earthly aid, with you, has passed forever.. 
I must not omit to name another result of 
excessive sexual indulgence, the diseases 
incident to it, and the maltreatment to 
which they are so often subjected ; prema- 
ture exhaustion and decay ; and this leads 
me to the third part of this little treatise, 
in which I design to address a few words 
to those who, having passed through the 
age of ripe manhood, have entered upon 
that period of life when, in the course of 
nature, the natural powers begin to wane, 
and the passions and appetites become less 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 61 

clamorous in their demands for gratifica- 
tion, or if not, in whom the physical capac- 
ity necessary to that purpose is diminished 
through former excessive indulgence, or 
as a consequence of the emasculating 
effects of the vile compounds to which they 
have been subjected through the ignorance 
and stupidity of those whom they have 
consulted wben requiring medical treat- 
ment ; and I may as well remark here as 
anywhere, that the early loss of sexual 
power may very often be justly attributed 
to an excessive indulgence in other than in 
the unrestrained gratification of the desire 
for sexual intercourse. The early and in- 
discriminate use of stimulating and alco- 
holic drinks, an excessive use of tobacco, 
by which its nicotine qualities are absorbed 
and taken into the system, especially \yith 
those who lead sedentary and inactive 
lives, are among the many causes of prem- 
ature decay ; and when this period arrives, 



62 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and full consciousness is felt that such is 
really the case, what can be more depress- 
sing to the mind, or more calculated to 
inspire an aversion to life, and to regard 
all its hitherto anticipated pleasures and 
promised blessings as a base delusion and 
a cheat? 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 63 



CHAPTER III. 

AFTER the attainment of the ages of 
fifty-five or sixty years, in man, the 
generative powers gradually dimmish, and, 
declining with increasing years, at the age 
of seventy and thence onward, cease to be 
able to accomplish the objects either of 
gratifying the passions, or the perpetua- 
tion of his species. The deprivation, how- 
ever, of these pleasures are not the only 
loss which he feels, and over which he is 
called to mourn. With the symptoms of 
approaching decay, and the waning forces 
of manly power, he is sensible also of a 
decline in those mental and executive fac- 
ulties by the force of which he has hitherto 
been enabled to overcome obstacles to suc- 
cess, and to acquire wealth and position in 
the world. It is true, that occasionally we 



64 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

meet with men of even three score years 
and ten and upwards, who display in all 
their movements and calculations but few 
or no evidences of senility, and who, up to 
a very advanced period in life, seem to 
enjoy almost unbroken powers both of 
mind and body. I do not refer to that 
class of old men, the fag end of whose 
lives are devoted to the gratification of the 
baser passions of avarice and gain, which 
outlive every other sentiment, but to those 
whose bodily powers, carefully husbanded 
and preserved, have suffered no untoward 
deterioration by the habits and practices 
of youthful indiscretions, nor the excesses 
of middle age. These, having performed 
all the requirements of life's duties well, 
justly, in the evening of its journey pass 
calmly onward to its close, uninterrupted 
and unassailed by any of those evils which 
embitter the declining years of the great 
majority of our fellow beings. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 65 

These last, unhappily, in almost every 
stage of their progress, are constantly re- 
quiring the fostering care of benevolent 
hearts and willing hands to direct and lead 
them over the, perhaps, too dreary and 
barren wastes spread out before them, and 
to some extent the aids of science to assist 
in reinvigorating their dormant faculties. 
I have devoted much time to this interest- 
ing study, how best to restore to its former 
possessors the lost powers of virility, so as 
to enable them at a comparatively advan- 
ced period of life to enjoy again, to a 
rational extent, all the pleasures of ripe 
manhood with those of the opposite sex. 
Pursuing my investigations upon strict 
scientific principles, and aided by the ample 
means for experiment which my extensive 
practice has afforded, I have arrived at re- 
sults as gratifying as they were new and 
astonishing. Without laying any claim to 
any such discovery as that wonderful 



66 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

fountain of youth which tempted the too 
credulous Ponce de Leon to brave the dan- 
gers of an unknown sea, I may, neverthe- 
less, claim a discovery, which for centuries 
has baffled the skill and research of the 
most eminent philosophers and sages 
which the world ever produced. I have 
succeeded in doing this without in any 
degree whatever drawing upon the reserv- 
ed forces of life, so as to induce exhaus- 
tion and prostration after each recurring 
effort; but its effects are so gently and 
gradually tonic and stimulating as to give 
permanent vigor and tone to every part of 
the system. Old age is thus shorn of half 
its terrors, and life, indeed, remains a per- 
fect blessing to its very close. Not only 
are all the procreative faculties restored 
and invigorated by these 'wonderful reme- 
dies, but every part of the body is made 
to share in their healthful and life-giving 
properties. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 67 

I would not thus speak so confidently 
and assuringly had I not witnessed 
in numberless instances the complete 
realization of all which I have here 
described. It is not yet three months 
since I was called upon by a gentleman of 
over sixty years of age, whose circumstan- 
ces, in relation to property and family 
affairs rendered it highly expedient that 
he should take to himself a wife, after 
twice having become a widower.*Although 
he felt, as he told me, in regard to that 
matter, the danger as well as what he con- 
sidered the impropriety of uniting himself 
to one so many years younger than him- 
self, as was the lady for whom he felt a 
decided preference, he could not well 
resist the inclination he felt to be governed 
in the matter by*the motives of choice ex- 
clusively, provided he could feel assured 
that subsequent events, anticipated from 
conscious debility and impotence by reason 



68 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

of his own advanced age, could be so con- 
trolled by medical skill as would obviate 
all danger of disagreement and infelicity 
between them after the marriage ceremony. 
I gave him the reasons for my strong con- 
viction that this could be satisfactorily 
accomplished for him, and he immediately 
subjected himself to the regimen and treat- 
ment which I imposed. I found in him a 
most submissive and docile patient, who 
unhesitatingly and faithfully followed the 
directions I gave him ; and I had the grat- 
ification, as well as the pleasure of seeing 
him, in less than three months from the 
time of his first application to me, rejoicing 
in the possession of the woman of his 
choice. He subsequently informed me, 
with a countenance beaming with grati- 
tude and thanks, that, there was not a hap- 
pier or a more contented couple on the 
face of the earth; and he attributed to me, 
and the truly happy effects of the medi- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 69 

cines I had prepared for him, the happiness 
which he then enjoyed. Indeed, I might 
cite other cases equally as interesting, but 
I do not feel at liberty to particularize, 
lest I might wound the sensitiveness of 
those who have confided to me, in my pro- 
fessional capacity, those matters which I 
cannot conscientiously nor honorably refer 
to, even to encourage and benefit others in 
a similar way. Let every one, however, 
be assured that age no longer forms any 
impediment to an enjoyment of all the 
physical functions of our being, and that 
wedlock, so far from being shunned as a 
severe and unhappy test of the virile 
forces, resulting only in failure and morti- 
fication, may now be consummated with all 
the assurance, hopefulness, and ardor of 
youth. 

Thus far it will have been noted by the 
intelligent reader, that I have addressed 
myself almost exclusively to gentlemen, 



70 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and my observations respecting the evils 
arising from masturbation, or self-abuse, 
excessive and promiscuous indulgence, and 
the various evils resulting therefrom, have 
been directed chiefly to those of the male 
sex, for whose benefit this treatise was 
originally designed. I am quite well 
aware however, of the fact, that its circula- 
tion and perusal has not been entirely 
restricted to them, and that it has found its 
way, in no very limited degree, into the 
hands of both married and single ladies. 
In order therefore, that they may find in it 
matter for their especial consideration and 
benefit, I have thought it advisable to dis- 
cuss somewhat more at large, and in ac- 
cordance with their physiological struc- 
ture, the same topics, at least so far as to 
render this work useful, as well as inter- 
esting to them. What I have said in 
regard to early habits, the undue exercise 
of the passions, and the mischief arising 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 71 

from excess and indiscretion, is as appli- 
cable to them as to those of the male sex. 
It does not require that the female should 
be learned in all the anatomical and phy- 
siological knowledge which science can 
impart, concerning those things, that she 
should be able to comprehend and appre- 
ciate the difference which exists between 
herself and her brother in this respect. 
Instinct is far better than books, and she 
knows better than books can teach her, 
that, only in model and form she differs 
from her mate ; that she is moved by the 
same passions, subject to the same infirmi- 
ties, and victim to the same diseases as he 
is ; that like causes, so far as disease is 
concerned, produce in her the same effects 
as in him, varied only by the difference in 
structure, and hence submissive to the 
same remedial treatment. But there are 
other and different classes of disease to 
which she is subject, and of which the 



72 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

male cannot participate. More delicate 
in their organization, and less robust, 
owing chiefly to their seclusion, the female 
cannot resist the changes of atmosphere, 
climate and circumstances, so firmly as can 
the hardier male, and, owing to various 
causes, well understood, she often becomes, 
from her earliest years, the subject of pain 
and suffering, of a nature to which he is an 
entire stranger. If, however, she unfortu- 
nately becomes afflicted with any of those 
troublesome and offensive diseases affect- 
ing the urino-genital organs which require 
medical treatment (and there are very few 
which do not), the same remedies, differing 
only in form of exhibition, are in most cases 
applicable to both. In those sexual dis- 
eases arising from promiscuous intercourse, 
such as gonorrhoea, chancroids, chancres 
and syphilis, in all its various stages, 
the same pharmaceutical agencies are 
resorted to, and no intelligent person need 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 13 

be misled or confused in their application 
or use, by reason of the difference of sex. 

Except in those cases where a resort to 
instrumental agencies, such as the use of 
bougies, the catheter, and sometimes even, 
syringes are called for, the administration 
of remedies for the ordinary diseases of 
the procreative organs, is as simple a mat- 
ter as the taking a cathartic pill, or a bowl 
of herb tea. In cases where urethral in- 
jections are necessary, although it is 
more advisable that they be administered 
under the immediate supervision of the 
medical attendant, yet with a little instruc- 
tion from him, carefully heeded and under- 
stood by the patient, injections may be 
safely self-administered. It now only re- 
mains for me to particularize the various 
sexual complaints most generally prevalent, 
and which you may be permitted to treat 
for yourselves, until proper medical assis- 
tance can be procured. Of these, 



74 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

GONORRHCEA OR CLAP 

Is the most common, and unfortunately 
the most easily and readily taken, espe- 
cially by the male. This is an affection 
confined exclusively to the urethra, and 
makes its appearance in from two to three, 
and sometimes four days after exposure. 
It is produced solely by the introduction 
of the virus into the meatus or opening 
in the male organ, where, communicating 
with the mucuous membrane, it infects the 
whole passage, gradually progressing from 
the opening downwards, until the whole 
is infected and subjected to the inflamma- 
tory action of the poison, producing in its 
course, the purulent discharge, the chordee 
and painful erections, gleet, etc., with all 
the distressing and annoying accompani- 
ments which invariably attend it if left 
unchecked, or improperly treated. 

The approach of the disease is unmis- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 75 

takeably indicated by the slight inflamma- 
tion at the meatus, or opening, the general 
"uneasiness and pain in the region of the 
hips and loins, the burning and scalding 
sensation in passing the urine, when the 
purulent discharge, staining the linen to a 
dull yellow, tells the whole story, and 
assures you that you have got the clap. 
At this stage of the disease your course of 
action is clear. You should not hesitate a 
moment ; do not wait to make certainty 
more sure, by pretending to doubt whether 
you are or not diseased. But do not get 
frightened, nor become excited ; that would 
only add to your trouble and augment the 
difficulties of an early suppression of the 
disease. If you are not convenient to a 
reliable physician, get a small glass, or 
gutta percha syringe, and also from the 
apothecary the following: Sulphate of 
zinc and tannic acid two grains each, dis- 
solved in two fluid ounces of pure soft 



76 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

water, putting the solution into a wide 
open-mouthed vial, so as to draw it up with 
the syringe directly from the vial, rather 
than being under the necessity of first 
pouring it out into a cup, and from thence 
filling your syringe. The ordinary glass 
syringe, half filled, will be sufficient to- 
begin with. Having emptied the bladder, 
by passing your urine, with the syringe 
in the right hand, working the piston with 
the fore-finger, insert the pipe into the 
opening, and grasping the organ, some two 
or three inches down, pressing the passage 
together, so as to prevent the injection 
from passing beyond, inject the solution 
carefully and neatly, so as to fill the pas- 
sage from the orifice downward, to where 
you have closed it by the pressure of your 
left thumb and fore-finger ; after withdraw- 
ing the syringe, close the opening by your 
right thumb and fore-finger, and with your 
left, gently work up and down for a nu> 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 77 

ment along the passage, so that the inject- 
ed solution shall fairly wash it on all sides ; 
this may be repeated once, so as to make 
sure that the injection has been thorough. 
This operation may be gone through at 
least three times a day, far three or four 
days, when, if the disease does not subside, 
it is evident that this, as it is termed, the 
abortive treatment, will not avail. If it 
has not, you will in the meantime be re- 
minded of it by an increase in the discharge 
and violence of the inflammation, with, it 
may be, a chordee, which is a consequence 
of a turgid state of the lower division of 
the penis, which prevents its expansion 
during erection, leaving it bent downwards, 
and occasioning almost inconceivable pain 
and distress. This may be alleviated by 
the application of ice, cold water, or, what 
is just as well, throwing one's self down 
upon the cold floor and exposing the parts 
to the air. But when the disease has 



78 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

attained this stage of its progress, the 
syringe becomes not only useless, but posi- 
tively dangerous in the hands of one who 
is not an expert, and other remedies must 
be resorted to. These are, first the doctor, 
and always the doctor, but if the doctor 
cannot be reached, then I should advise 
palliative remedies, until he can be consult- 
ed. Of these, some one of the various 
preparations of copaiba and cubebs may 
be taken. The following recipe can be 
put up by almost any apothecary, and will 
be found efficacious : — 

Two ounces copaiba, one ounce powder- 
ed cubebs, one-half drachm aluminis, and 
magnesia sufficient to compound a mass, 
divide into pills of five grains each ; take 
four to six three times a day ; or, if the 
patient is of weak habit and delicate 
stomach, take copaiba two ounces, magnesia 
one ounce, oil of peppermint twenty drops, 
powdered cubebs and subnitrate of bis- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 79 

muth each two ounces ; divide into pills of 
five grains each, and take three, three 
times a day. 

In case of a very severe chordee, cam- 
phor is a very common remedy, and when 
taken in a liquid form, seldom fails to give 
relief. One drachm of the tincture in a 
glass of sweetened water, taken on going 
to bed, and every time you wake up with 
chordee, will give great relief, whilst per- 
severance in the use of this remedy will 
often cause all tendency to this distressing 
symptom to disappear in two or three 
nights. It cannot, however be always 
relied upon, nor is it all times safe to be 
administered, or taken unadvisedly. Some 
persons it affects injuriously by its power- 
ful stimulating qualities, and consequent 
action upon the brain and optic nerves, 
often producing discoloration and tempo- 
rary derangement of vision. In the ab- 
sence of especial remedies for such emer- 



80 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

gencies, a cloth wetted with cold water 
and applied to the parts will alleviate the 
severity of the paroxysms until you can 
consult with your physician, and more 
active remedies may be obtained. I would 
never recommend the use of any powerful 
opiates or narcotics in such cases, not only 
by reason of their generally dangerous 
qualities, but of their secondary injurious 
effects upon the digestive organs, and ten- 
dency to produce constipation of the bow- 
4 els, which should be carefully avoided. 

I have not alluded to the use of nitrate 
of silver, as an abortive remedy in the 
early stage of gonorrhoea, although of all 
substances, it is undoubtedly the most 
efficacious and reliable, but in inexperienced 
hands, is exceedingly dangerous, and I 
would not advise its use, except under the 
immediate direction of a physician. It is 
a well-known fact, that the disease will 
often exhaust itself in time, but in running 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 81 

through its various stages, it sometimes 
takes months ; in the meantime the victim 
suffers untold torments, which the expen- 
diture of a few dollars, and the timely aid 
of a good physician would have saved 
him. 

GLEET. 

Not the least of the disagreeable and 
uncomfortable consequences of a pro- 
tracted and badly managed gonorrhoea, is a 
discharge from the urethra of a serous, 
mucous, or muco-purulent character, unat- 
tended most generally, with pain or scald- 
ing in making water. In some instances, 
the lips of the meatus or opening will be 
found glued together, and a drop of yellow- 
ish fluid may be pressed out. This 
appearance is sometimes seen only in the 
morning ; occasionally there is a constant 
running from the urethra. The patient's 
linen may be without stains for days, as 



82 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

long as he leads a regular life ; but let him 
indulge in any excess of drink, or take 
exercise, and at once the symptoms and 
annoyance return, and may continue for 
months, or even for years. A person who 
may have contracted gonorrhoea, and allows 
it to progress, or leads an irregular life 
during treatment, the discharge continues 
often in spite of the usual remedies 
hitherto resorted to by the faculty, until 
the strength, as well as the means of the 
sufferer, become completely exhausted. 
Thus, as before stated, months, or years, 
may pass, and the patient remain in 
statu quo. Treatment with the usual 
category of cubebs, copaiba, iron, etc., 
may relieve it for the moment, but 
it returns again and again under slight 
causes, to the great annoyance and 
disgust of the patient. At an early period 
of my practice, my attention was particu- 
larly called to the difficulty of treating 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 83 

these cases, so as to effectually cure the 
gleet, without a danger of its recur- 
rence under any of the exciting cases to 
which I have alluded. But under the old 
system of practice, I found nothing satis- 
factory ; therefore, I felt the necessity of 
a deeper investigation into the nature and 
causes of this complaint than had hitherto 
been done. By the aid of microscopic 
examinations of the discharge itself, as 
also the condition of the urethral canal, I be- 
came satisfied that the system of treatment 
which had hitherto prevailed, was radically 
wrong, and that, under ordinary circum- 
stances, the introduction of caustics, 
counter irritants, etc., in the form of injec- 
tions or armed bougies, were, for the most 
part, except where strictures existed, as 
useless as it was a dangerously painful 
infliction. The mistake on the part of 
practitioners seems to have been that, 
they have regarded gleet as a simple 



84 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

sequella of, or " after clap " to gonorrhoea, 
whereas I regard it as the disease itself in 
its chronic form, equally as contagious, 
and, if not as painful to be borne, equally 
as dangerous to the general health, and far 
more likely to perpetuate its evils upon 
the wife and offspring than acute gonorr- 
hoea, in its earlier stages. Certainly, 
to a physician, conscientiously anxious, 
as I was, to really benefit my patients 
in my treatment of them, here was 
great room for inquiry; whether some- 
thing new and outside the beaten track 
might not be discovered successfully 
to combat this formidable malady; and 1 
gave to it my best attention, and I am 
happy to say that my exertions have not 
been in vain. For many years I have 
been in possession of remedies by the use 
of which gleet, or as I consider it, chronic 
gonorrhoea, is entirely shorn of its terrors, 
and rendered entirely inoxious, and as 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 85 

submissive to medical treatment as any 
disease whatever. In whatever stage it 
maybe, I claim the remedy to be infallible, 
and am ready to warrant a cure in all 
cases. By its use I have frequently cured 
a long-standing and obstinate running, in a 
single day, and sometimes by a single appli- 
cation ; but these are exceptional cases. In 
effecting a cure, age, occupation, habits and 
temperament of the patient, are, of course, 
to be taken into consideration, as, what 
would cure Jones in a day or two, might not 
accomplish it for Smith in a month, and 
yet, I am so certain that it will cure, that I 
am willing to stake my reputation upon its 
success. From what I have said, the 
reader need not be further instructed as 
to the necessary precautions to be taken 
when this affliction is upon him. The 
avoidance of all excess and fatigue, with 
abstenance from sexual intercourse, espe- 
cially with a wife or such others as he 



86 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

would not wish to infect, is of the first 
importance. Without any design or de- 
sire to herald my discoveries in this 
particular to the advancement of my own 
interests, professionally or otherwise, I 
am led to make the fact generally known, 
so that sufferers may be relieved from 
anxiety and suspense, and be assured that, 
gleet or chronic gonorrhoea need not 
"hang on if forever, if they will but make 
a trial of the remedies which I can furnish 
them. 

STRICTURE. 

Another of the consequences, as well as 
accompanyments, of gonorrhoea, is stric- 
ture. This is the most complicated, pain- 
ful and troublesome of all the mischiefs 
arising from badly treated and protracted 
cases. In its treatment, nothing that I 
could say would be of material advantage 
to the sufferer, as it is certain that he cannot 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 87 

beneficially treat himself. I can only point 
out the him those signs and symptoms 
which will unerringly intimate to him the 
existence of stricture, and the absolute 
necessity of surgical assistance, if he 
would obtain relief. The existence of 
stricture may be inferred whenever a 
natural flow of the urinary discharge is 
interupted. Medical writers have taken 
great pains to arrange and classify this 
disease, and the books designed solely for 
the profession, describe the various kinds 
under the heads of 'permanent? * spas- 
modic / and l inflammatory? Any of them 
are bad enough, and I do not think it worth 
while to inflict upon the general reader a 
special treatise upon their peculiar charac- 
teristics, as it would be of no earthly 
benefit to him. The greatest benefit I can 
do him, is to point out with sufficient 
clearness, how he can decide for himself; 
that it is stricture that prevents him from 



88 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

urinating, or, that only allows him to pass 
his water in a forked, spattering stream, or 
in scanty drops, or that he is obliged to 
strain, or that there is that general uneasi- 
ness and painful bearing down and convul- 
sive action accompanying the effort to 
unload the bladder. That eminent surgeon, 
Sir Benjamin Brodie, in his invaluable 
work, gives a very good idea of this 
trouble, " A man/' he says, u who is 
otherwise healthy, voids his urine one day 
in a full stream, on the following day, 
perhaps, he is exposed to cold and damp ; 
or he dines out and forgets, amidst the 
company of his friends, the quantity of 
champagne, or punch, or other liquor con- 
taining a combination of alcohol, with a 
vegetable acid, which he drinks. On the 
next morning he finds himself unable to 
void his urine. He has stricture. From 
the moment this fact is ascertained, no 
time should be lost, as every day increases 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 89 

the evil, and from a simple adhesion of the 
walls of the urethra, curable by proper 
applications in a few days ; it will, if 
neglected, by turns assume all the formid- 
able shapes of this terrible disease, to the 
torment of the life of the victim, until the 
most painful and dangerous surgical opera- 
tions will only be availing in its eradication 
and cure." 

The reader will have observed that in 
all the foregoing pages 1 have carefully 
avoided entering into details, or giving 
way to that style of composition which 
seems almost inseparable from the medical 
profession. I have not, by a prolix and 
confused use of medical and pharmaceuti- 
cal terms, perplexed his mind, nor sought 
to inspire an opinion of my skill, by an ex- 
hibition of professional and technical terms, 
only understood by the regular student 
and philologist. I have rather sought to 
intimate, in plain and readily understood 



90 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

language, matters and subjects upon which 
a great deal of ignorance unfortunately 
prevails. I have sought to point out the 
dangers and perils arising from certain 
causes, which are to-day working a vast 
amount of evil and distress throughout the 
whole country. 

I have also called your attention to the 
ready and certain means of cure which I 
possess, and of which all may avail them- 
selves at a moderate expense, without in- 
curring the least danger of relapse or ex- 
posure. And finally, I invite you to test 
an experience of over thirty years' unin- 
terrupted practice, in which I have more 
successfully treated every disease to 
which humanity is liable, than any other 
physician in New England. 

My arrangements and provisions for 
this purpose are most extensive, and 
peculiarly adapted to suit and please 
the taste of the most delicate and fastid- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 91 

ious. My reception rooms are ample, and 
even luxuriously furnished; and patients, 
whilst waiting for, and during consultation, 
are free from all inquisitive observation. 
My medicines, which are all prepared ' 
under my own immediate supervision, are 
procured for me by herbalists of rare skill, 
and imported for my exclusive use; and 
whilst I devote every faculty I possess to 
the relief and cure of those who place 
themselves under my care, I am particular 
also to so regulate and apportion the price 
of my services, that none, however unfor- 
tunate, need be kept away by the fear of 
excessive, or exhorbitant charges. 



92 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CHAPTER IV. 

I PRESUME that there are many who, 
on opening this book, expected to find 
a larger number of prescriptions for the 
cure of diseases ; also directions for taking 
the prescribed remedies, and rules for 
diet, etc., etc., while taking them. Here 
let me say, that whoever looks for that, in 
any properly prepared treatise of this 
kind, will always be disappointed. I would 
most cheerfully send prescriptions to suf- 
ferers, but it would be utterly impractica- 
ble, for the reason that the principal reme- 
dies, which I use in curing diseases, are 
imported by myself, from foreign countries, 
for my own practice ; and very many of 
them, the most efficacious, cannot be ob- 
tained from any druggist in this country. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 93 

The reader will readily see that any pre- 
scription, under such circumstances, would 
be worthless to him. I not only import 
my herbs, barks, roots, and medicinal 
plants, but I myself prepare them for use. 
I do this that I may be sure, beyond all 
doubt, that my patients get the pure arti- 
cle, without any adulteration, or any possi- 
bility of mistake ; and to this fact I attri- 
bute, in a great measure, my success in 
treating and curing disease. The concen- 
trated form in which I prepare them, ena- 
bles me to send them to any part of the 
country by mail, or by express, at trifling 
expense ; so that there would be really no 
reason for furnishing prescriptions to my 
patients, even it they could get them com- 
pounded by the druggist. 

I have thought that I could not do a 
better service to my readers than to give 
a selection from the large correspondence 
I am daily receiving from persons seeking 



94 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

my advice, or such as have been under my 
care, as somewhat illustrative of the pecu- 
liar cases 1 am most frequently called upon 
to treat. These letters are not only calcu- 
lated to show the embarrassments under 
which invalids frequently labor in regard 
to the choice of a physician, when seeking 
to regain lost health, but narrating, as they 
do, actual cases attempted to be described 
by the sufferers themselves, they may ena- 
ble the reader to compare his own with 
them, and to judge whether he may not, 
with every hope of relief, resort to the 
same means of cure. 

Whilst, as a general rule, I usually de- 
stroy correspondence of a private naturei 
especially all such as I consider that the 
writers would prefer not to be in danger 
of a perusal by any other than myself, there 
are cases which I consider of too interest- 
ing a character, and which required a 
degree of care, skill, and attention, to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 95 

perfect a cure, that I have, in the interest 
of humanity, preserved such an outline of 
them as would enable me to refer to, and 
recall whatever of importance might be 
connected with them, for my future 
guidance in similar cases. In such cir- 
cumstances, I preserve only transcripts of 
all the correspondence, destroying the 
original, whilst I erase all names and other 
means of exposure, of matters which 
might wound the sensibilities of the 
writers. 

The subjoined letters I have selected, 
because they represent, better than I 
could otherwise do, different grades and 
classes of physical disability produced by 
causes particularly treated upon in this 
book, and which, more than any other 
class of diseases, I have been called upon 
to treat. From thousands of similar en- 
dorsements of the happy results of my 
system of medical treatment, I am em- 



9 6 MEDICAL . ADVISER. 

boldened in claiming for it a superiority 
over all others. The living witnesses, whom 
I daily meet and recognize as of those who 
have, in their persons, experienced the heal- 
ing, life-preserving efficacy of my remedies, 
and who, from being debilitated, broken 
down, despairing invalids, looking forward 
to death as the only termination of their 
sufferings, are to-day in the enjoyment of 
all the blessings which health can confer, 
and amongst our most useful, active, and 
and enterprising citizens. With such ex- 
amples before them, no one should hesitate 
or delay a single hour in securing to 
himself the means of recovery and restora- 
tion which I am fully prepared to offer 
him. 

Prom the fact that I have, in this little 
volume, called the reader's attention chiefly 
to those disorders arising from an indis- 
creet and overtasked indulgence of the 
sexual and procreative faculties, some of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 97 

my readers may be led to infer that I limit 
my practice exclusively to them. This 
would be a mistake. Being a regularly- 
educated physician, my range of practice 
is not restricted to any particular branch 
of my profession, although I have devoted 
a large share of my attention to the 
investigation and study of the utero- 
genital organs, under the belief that to 
them might be traced, much oftener than 
is generally supposed, a large share of 
those diseases which annually disables, and 
eventually carries off, so many thousands 
of our most promising and interesting 
young men. Consumption, diseases of the 
heart and liver, rheumatism, imperfections 
of sight and hearing, baldness, and many 
other complaints intimately connected 
with, and in a large degree owing their 
early developement to causes directly 
resulting from a too-frequent violation of 
nature's laws in this very thing, are sub- 



98 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

jects in which I feel myself fully justified 
in recommending my remedies, and in 
which I have been equally successful in 
my treatment. To either sex, male or 
female, requiring medical or surgical 
treatment, I am prepared to offer every 
facility and convenience whilst prescribing 
for every case of disease or accident to 
which the human frame is liable. Medi- 
cines carefully prepared by myself, neatly 
and securely packed for transportation to 
any part of the world, with every needed 
direction for their use, as the case may 
require, will be promptly forwarded to 
such as may wish to avail themselves of 
my professional services. 

(Letter from a gentleman.) 

G , Me., Sept. — 

Dr. Frederic Morrill : 

Dear Sir: It is under feelings of the 
deepest despondency and mortification that 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 99 

I address you this letter. I have long 
contemplated doing it, but my resolution 
has failed me whenever I have sat down 
to accomplish it. I am, however, reduced 
to that degree of hopelessness, and, I may 
add, helplessness, that unless I do some- 
thing, and that most speedily, I shall be so 
completely shorn of all energy and man- 
hood as to be utterly incapable of making 
myself understood by you or any one else. 
You already, I imagine, comprehend the 
difficulty under which I labor. I am now 
about eighteen years of age, and have 
been, almost since I arrived at the age of 
puberty, addicted to that most horrible of 
all soul and body destroying vice, — self- 
abuse. First indulging in the practice at 
rare intervals, it has grown upon me as I 
have advanced in life, inflicting new tor- 
tures, and throwing open before me vistas 
of future torments, which combine to 
render the present, past, and future, in 



100 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

the endurance and anticipation, too ter- 
rible to bear or describe. I was led into 
this vile habit, as all boys are, by bad 
example and association with those who, 
being older than myself, ought to have 
known better. I did not then, as I do now, 
attribute the many painful and depressing 
ills to which I was subject, to the physical 
derangements occasioned by this vice. I 
had, I think, a scrofulous taint, inherited 
from my parents. This became quite 
early developed, and for years I was 
afflicted with a weakness and inflammation 
of the eyes, which at times was almost 
insupportable. Costiveness, and constipa- 
tion also, always rendered it necessary 
that I should be taking laxative and 
cathartic medicine. When I resorted to 
medical advice, not one of the many 
physicians whom I consulted ever made 
the inquiry as to my habits, or suggested 
the possibility that I was paying the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 101 

penalty of solitary vice. Had my occupa- 
tion or pursuits been such as to afford me 
constant and daily labor and exercise in 
the open air, I have no doubt it would 
have been far better for me ; but since my 
fourteenth year I have been a student, 
either at home or abroad, and although I 
have enjoyed every advantage and oppor- 
tunity, to-day feel myself utterly incompe- 
tent and incapable of profiting by them. 
A loss of memory and a lack of energy, 
inability to any continuous exercise of the 
reasoning powers, a want of tenacity of 
purpose, a confusion of ideas, timidity, 
bashfulness, and a constant apprehension 
of coming evil, so besets me, that I some- 
times wish that I might die to escape it. 
Indeed, I have often thought of suicide, 
and am sometimes seriously tempted to 
resort to it as a relief from my troubles. 
I have read books and treatises upon the 
subject, and have, times without number, 



102 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

resolved, nay, sworn, to abandon the prac- 
tice. But I find to my sorrow that I have 
not got the strength of will and purpose to 
do this. To such a state of debility am I 
reduced that, I find I am powerless to carry 
into effect any resolution whatever ; and I 
am at length satisfied that a man left alone, 
unaided, in this condition, is entirely 
unable, of himself, to emerge from the 
depths into which he has fallen. I have 
hitherto kept this to myself, fearing, or 
rather ashamed, to make a confident of any 
one. But I can do so no longer. The 
continued drain upon my S3 r stem, and the 
very foundations of manhood, have been 
so long continued, that I have become the 
unvoluntary victim of all those ruinous 
consequences which flow from such a 
cause ; cold night sweats, a troublesome 
cough, a burning and feverish skin, dis- 
turbed sleep, and dreams too horrid and 
too * * * * to narrate, admonish me, that 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 103 

if I do not soon obtain relief, the attempt 
to do so will be too late. I have therefore 
resolved to break through the reserve and 
moody silence behind which I have hitherto 
shrouded myself, and, cost what it may 
throw myself into the hands of some one 
in whom I can place confidence, and sub- 
mit entirely to his guidance and direction, 
until I am either restored to my former self, 
or laid at rest in the grave. I have heard 
much of you, of your willingness to under, 
take such cases as mine, and the great 
success which attends your course of 
practice, and the remedies you give. If 
you think you can cure me, consider me 
as your patient from this moment. Not 
wishing to occupy your time for nothing 

I enclose dollars for which please 

give me credit, and write to me at once 
what I am to do. 

I am, very respectfully, &c, 

S W .■ 

See Note on page 104. 



104 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Since the publication of the last previous 
edition of The Medical Adviser, I have 
received thousands of letters from almost 
every class of sufferers; and were I to 
publish even but one in a hundred of them, 
(which, of course, I should only do by 
suppressing names, etc., for very obvious 
reasons,) I should swell this volume far 
beyond the size to which I have limited it ; 
and whilst they would present an array of 



Note. — The reader will clearly perceive from the 
foregoing letter, that this was not only a most distres- 
sing case, but that, notwithstanding the writer had 
intended to give me such a detailed statement as would 
enable me to prescribe for him directly, yet, on a more 
careful examination, he will see that there was not that 
circumstantial detail of particulars necessary for my 
guidance in a case of so much importance. Apprised of 
the unhappy young gentleman's inability at that time 
to visit me at my office, I wrote to him some two or 
three times, suggesting topics upon which I desired to 
be more fully informed. In the course of a fortnight 
I had succeeded in perfecting quite a satisfactory 
diagnosis of his case, and immediately put in active 
operation the course of treatment I had marked out. 
It was not to be expected that habits so confirmed, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 105 

facts startling to the general reader, would 
not at all be surprising to such of the medi- 
cal profession as are in the way to know the 
fearful extent of the evils arising from 
solitary vice. Among the letters recently 
received by me, is the following, which I 
have the writer's permission to make 
public. I have copied it verbatim. The 
reader will find it quite interesting, and a 
much better specimen than the great 

and maladies so aggravated, could be at once broken 
up. Experience had too often shown me that this 
class of patients, however determined and resolved 
they might express themselves to be in the beginning, 
were not always to be relied upon in carrying out 
your views in regard to them, and that not unfre- 
quently they defeated your best efforts in their behalf, 1 
by but a half compliance with your directions. A 
temporary relief, and a slight change for the better, 
would give rise to a presumptuous desire to break 
through the rules you had prescribed for their guid- 
ance, and before you suspect it, they would complain 
of the want of efficacy of your treatment, and fall 
back into the old line of complaint and despair. 

But I am not in the practice of letting patients foil 
me in my labors to effect a cure in that way ; and it is 



106 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

majority of such letters usually offer. In 
its simplicity, and fidelity of narrative, 
many readers will recognize a very accu- 
rate description of symptoms and troubles 
to which they are no strangers themselves. 
Its perusal should also stimulate them to 
imitate the writer in his earnest efforts to 
obtain relief, when once aroused to the 
dangers by which he is menaced. 

I will add that, that the individual is, at 



at the very moment of their greatest discouragement, 
that I feel that I am beginning to get them well in 
hand, and that when they find they are past all hope, 
except through outside help, I am most certain that I 
have them on the sure road to recovery and better 
days. And so it was with this young man. By 
encouragement and persuasions I soon won his entire 
confidence, and had the satisfaction of witnessing his 
gradual progress from almost total prostration to 
renewed vigor and health. I did not even resort to 
the expedient of a change of residence, nor to his 
giving up his books. My medical treatment was 
directed towards subduing and soothing the nervous 
irritation which his habits had engendered, and to 
strengthen and give tone to every faculty which had 
felt the debilitating effects of his former indulgencies. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 107 

this time, (February, 1871,) under my 
treatment, and, as he assures me, " improv- 
ing rapidly ; every day feeling more and 
more the beneficial effects of the remedies 
I prescribe for him." 

H******* Vt., Jan. 10, 1871. 
Mr. F. Morrill, M. D., 

Dear Sir : It is with feelings of reluc- 
tance that I seat myself to write you 

I did not allow the slightest symptom to escape me ; 
and although I had never seen him, I felt assured of 
the beneficial changes which were taking place, as 
though I had him daily in my presence. Gradually 
the style of his correspondence, as well as the steadi- 
ness of his hand and eye, indicated by his penmanship, 
plainly showed the great improvement going on, until 
at length I was surprised by a call from him to thank 
me in person for what I had done for him. 

Let the reader imagine for himself, a hale, portly 
young man, bearing about him every mark of a 
healthy and almost perfect manhood; a frank, open 
and ingenious countenance, that shrinks from no 
scrutiny, and a bright sparkling eye that almost fasci- 
nates you by its beaming lustre and intelligence, and 
you have before you the patient whose case I have 



108 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

this letter. But 1 feel somewhat com- 
pelled to do so, on account of my own 
present condition ; prompted by a desire 
to obtain that, which through a foolish and 
wicked habit, I have lost. I refer to 
health ; which, through a long number of 
years, by self-abuse, I feel that I have 
undermined. I am sorry thus to be com- 
pelled to resort to this course, and should 
do it from no other motive than the sincere 
hope of relief. 

I have become acquainted with you 
through a little book, written by yourself, 

just been describing. He was thoroughly cured. 
Every faculty of both soul and body appeared to be 
fully adequate to all the exigencies of an honorable 
and successful future, to which his means, and his 
family and social relations, would justify him to 
aspire. I am happy to say that his subsequent career 
has realized the highest expectations I had formed of 
him. Equally distinguished at the bar of his adopted 
State, as at the national councils, he is, at this time, 
one of the most promising and rising men in the 
country. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 109 

entitled The Gentleman's Medical Ad. 
Viser, and will try to state as concisely 
as possible, my condition. 

I am now twenty-four years of age, and 
have indulged in the baneful practice of 
masturbation for more than twelve years. 
I never realized that it had any very 
perceptible effect upon me, until about a 
year ago, when I was attacked with a fit, 
epileptic, I suppose. Since then I have 
had a number. I have had only three, 
however, since sometime last May. I have 
attributed these fits, in a large degree, to 
this practice, and, perhaps, wholly. Since 
I became aware that this was the case, I 
partially reformed my bad habits. I went 
three or four months without resorting to 
it at all, and then, thinking that, perhaps, 
an occasional indulgence (it being almost a 
second nature,) would do no harm. I think I 
have indulged myself in it since the first 
part of October, up to within about three 



110 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

weeks, but three times. But those times 
were, I fear ; the load that broke my back ; 
as since then, I have had four or five invol- 
untary nocturnal emissions, which have 
caused me much suffering and well nigh dis- 
couraged me. I would do most anything 
for relief. Do you think you could help 
me ? I do not feel any serious derangement 
of the system. I enjoy a good appetite, 
good digestion, and bowels very regular. 
My general health is apparently good. But 
I know too well what will be the conse- 
quences if relief is not afforded, and these 
involuntary emissions stopped. I have 
been taking, for nearly a year, a solution 
of " Bromide of Potassia " for my fits, 
but it seemed to me that I need some- 
thing to act back of that. If you feel as 
though you could give me relief, will you 
please be so kind as to undertake it. If 
you can do it by sending me directions and 
medicine without necessitating a visit, you 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. Ill 

will confer a favor, as it would be quite diffi- 
cult for me to leave rny business, as I am 
now situated. If you wish for any further 
information, I shall be glad to give it. 
You can send medicine by express or 
otherwise to me. Send bill for collection, 
if you wish. Now, that you would under- 
take to do me good by attending to my 
case immediately is my earnest desire. I 
feel as though it needs immediate attention 
before it shall be too late. It has beeq, 
only three weeks since I have had any 
involuntary emissions. I feel more hope- 
ful on account of attending to it before it 
has exhausted the entire system. With 
the sincere hope that you may be able to 
confer on me the precious boon of health, 
for which I should ever be extremely 
grateful and thankful to you. 

I remain yours truly, 

I- G . 

The following letter is from a middle- 



112 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

aged gentlemen, whose early life had been 
marked by misfortunes of no ordinary 
severity, which had preyed upon his 
health to that extent as to occasionally 
unfit him for all business occupations, as 
also to render him incapable of any mental 
enjoyments whatever. Strange as it may 
appear, this gentleman's appearance indi- 
cated in no very marked degree, the 
infirmities of which he complained. He 
was rather plethoric and full in form, and his 
his countenance was more like that ofa,"bon 
vivant " than otherwise. To one unaccus- 
to read the " human face divine," he would 
have been taken for almost anybody else 
than one who was suffering under a most 
complicated form of disease, having its 
origin in a criminal indulgence so vile and 
sensual as to excite our horror and aver- 
sion towards one, who, in the form of a 
man, could surrender himself up to such 
gross and unnatural appetites and desires. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 113 



B -, 186—. 



Dear Sir : 

In the short interview which I had with 
you, yesterday, I perceived that I stag- 
gered your faith in my truthfulness, when 
I stated to you the troubles which oppress 
me, and which, notwithstanding the fair and 
rosy blush of health I wear, renders life 
almost an unsupportable burden. You 
were correct in your opinion that, my case, 
was an abnormal one, which required a 
frank avowal on my part before you could 
venture to prescribe for me. Although not 
particularly troubled with any excess of 
squeamishness in matters of this kind, I 
must confess that I felt reluctant to expose 
to you, verbally, the true character of my 
mental and physical deformities. Did I 
tell you that I was a brute, I should come 
far short of conveying to you any just idea 
of myself. I am a brute, embodying every 
animal instinct, with all the reasoning, 



114 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

cunning, planning, and executing faculties 
of the human being in their highest degree 
and perfection. A native of the south of 
Europe, and inheriting all the hot and fiery 
instincts of my race, I have ever sought 
the gratification of every unholy and 
unlicensed passion to which the creature, 
man, may be enslaved. 

At a very early age, even in my boyhood, 
I broke through every bound of religion, 
morality, and blood itself, to gratify the 
intense desires which overwhelmed me. 
This ever-consuming fire seemed to derive 
new force and energy upon what it fed on, 
when satiety and disgust led me to search 
out new sources of gratification, until the 
most unnatural tastes and propensities took 
possession of me. Consorting with men 
and even animals, became far more prefer- 
able than with the fairest and most enticing 
of the opposite sex; and I became so 
addicted to it, that I felt myself, as, indeed, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 115 

that n pestilence which walketh at noon- 
day/' as ; vampy re-like, I fattened upon the 
the victims I had destroyed. These hor- 
rible and unnatural gratifications seems to 
have had the effect of blending and incor- 
porating their mischievous and deadening 
influence throughout every faculty of my 
being; shame, morality, and virtue lost 
their distinctive qualities in my mind, and 
gluttony, intemperance, and excess of 
every kind, have usurped complete mastery 
over me. One who knows me well has 
frequently intimated that I must look to 
moral, rather than medical influences to 
change me from what I am. But I know 
better. Moral effort can hold no successful 
conflict with the overwhelming physical 
clamorings of an organization like mine. 
"A. sound mind in a sound body," is a 
maxim of wisdom, but the sound body must 
come first. Insanity is, I presume, the 
consequence of a diseased brain ; and 



116 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

although a diseased brain requires the aid 
of moral forces to its proper readjustment, 
yet a nice and just adaptation of sanitary 
appliances must precede as well as accom- 
pany them, to render them available. 

Impotency, sterility and exhaustion, 
admit of a ready cure at the hands of the 
skilful physician ; who, like yourself, has 
made this branch of physiological science 
his particular study. If excitants, tonics, 
and stimulants promote action in the one 
class of cases, why should not antiphlogis- 
tics, anodynes, and kindred remedies 
quench those fires which turn man into a 
demon, and renders life one constant re- 
bellion against everything pure and good. 
I have great faith in you, doctor, hence 
this disclosure. Are you willing to try 
your skill in this strange case ? I will sub- 
mit to anything, do anything, that I may 
again enjoy the tranquility and self-posses- 
sion of perfectly vigorous manhood. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 117 

My means are ample, and they are at your 
disposal ; all I ask in return is, that I may 
be enabled to go forth amongst my fellow- 
men without that crushing sense of moral 
degradation which is now more oppressive 
than any " fearful looking for of fiery in- 
dignation/ 7 in the future, can possibly be. 
Any encouragement you can give me will 
materially influence my movements for the 
future, and T will most gladly avail myself 
of your earliest intimation that a call from 
me would be agreeable. 

With great esteem, I am yours, etc. 
L F . 

Note. This gentleman had by no means overstated 
his case. At my suggestion he took apartments in 
my vicinity where I could daily observe his conduct. 
It was clearly evident that his misfortunes were chiefly 
owing to a morbid state of the whole system, similar 
to that which in some person manifests itself in a rav- 
enous appetite, which can only be appeased by devour- 
ing enormous quantities of the most indigestible and 
revolting substances for food. I felt satisfied that the 
case was a fair one for medical treatment, and govern- 



118 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

(Letter Third.) 

D , 186—. 

Doctor Morrill, 

Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sir : I enclose a gentleman's card, 
with his endorsement upon the back of it, 
well known to you, as my introduction. 
For some months past I have been in search 
of a skilful medical man, whom I might 
safely consult in a matter involving not 
only my own happiness, but the peace, 

ed myself accordingly. It would be useless for me to 
attempt to describe to the non-professional reader the 
course I adopted, and readily submitted to by my pa- 
tient, to exorcise this " unclean spirit " which posses- 
sed him. Suffice it to say, 'that, after an unusual 
degree of application on my part, I had the satisfac- 
tion at length of reducing the " fair proportions of 
his ruling passion," until he sobered down into a ra- 
tional human being. Bereft of no quality, nor in any- 
wise shorn of his proper manhood, he has become a 
model of regularity, moderation, and of all the gentler 
virtues. His striking manly beauty still marks him as 
a general favorite, whilst those coarser features which 
formerly marred him, have disappeared forever. My 
last letter from him, dated several years ago, informed 
me, that at length he had settled down, rejoicing in 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 119 

health, and, possibly, the life itself of my 
wife. For several years she has been an 
invalid. She is now thirty-three years of 
age, and we have been married upwards 
of twelve years. Shortly after the birth 
of our child, a son of nearly eleven years 
of age, her health began to decline, since 
which time, notwithstanding the many 
physicians to whom she has applied, and 
the various means resorted to for relief, 
she has continued, in a state of debility so 

the society of an amiable companion, and with an un- 
disturbed temperament and tranquility of soul which 
promised to compensate him, in part, for the tumul- 
tuous and stormy past. 

I have hesitated long before I could persuade my- 
self to give place to the foregoing in these pages. But 
on reflection I felt that, as it was a true record, and 
represented a class by no means rare or uncommon, I 
would not withhold it from the apprehensions of the 
criticisms of the incredulous or narrow-minded. Hu- 
man nature is the same everywhere, beset by the same 
temptations, and destroyed by the same vices ; and the 
medical man, better than all others, knows to what 
extent the justification exists for calling attention to 
this gentleman's case. 



120 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

nearly bordering on downright sickness as 
to be seldom capable of attending to any 
of the duties, or enjoying any of the com- 
forts, much less the pleasures, of society, 
or even of life itself. So repeated has 
been her failures to obtain beneficial medi- 
cal aid, that, long since she gave up all 
hope of obtaining it at the hands of any of 
those physicians whom we have been in 
the habit of regarding as our oracles in all 
matters of this kind. She declares herself 
disgusted, and wearied out by this con- 
stant succession of potions, pills, and pow- 
ders, tonics, stimulants, and alteratives, as 
they are termed, and has about made up 
her mind to resign herself to her fate, 
whatever that may be. This is not so 
much to be wondered at when I inform you 
that there is hardly a physician of any note 
in the city with whom she has not consult- 
ed, many of them repeatedly, but all of 
them to little purpose. My friend, who so 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 121 

highly recommends you, has endeavored to 
prevail upon her to consult you ; but with 
a perversity, if not peculiar to her sex, at 
least strongly characteristic of her infirmi- 
ties, slie persists in her resolution hence- 
forth to let the doctors alone. This all 
might do very well, if she alone was the 
sufferer. But I, being a party quite as 
much interested as she is, have resolved 
that no efforts shall remain untried to ena- 
ble her to regain her health, and that I may 
have restored to me the society and com- 
panionship of a wife to whom I am most 
fondly attached. I cannot see her thus, 
day by day, sinking into a premature 
grave, whilst there remains the least earth- 
ly possibility of rescuing her from her 
present perilous condition. I have, there- 
fore, determined to give to you, myself, 
such facts concerning her case as I am con- 
versant with ; and as I have been for many 
years past, to a great extent, her principal 



122 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

nurse, I am not certain but that I can give 
you all the description necessary to enable 
yo\j to form a pretty just opinion of whom 
you are to treat, and the troubles you are 
expected to eradicate. Soon after the 
birth of our child my wife's health com- 
menced gradually to give way, and she 
filled, with difficulty, the offices of a mother, 
against my remonstrances ; she declined to 
resign her child to other hands during its 
infancy, and, although no immediate conse- 
quences were apparent, yet it was evident 
that her physical powers were not equal 
to the burden she assumed. 

Whatever may have been the causes, 
thenceforward there seemed to be a gene- 
ral breaking up and falling to pieces of her 
entire system. Disorders of the womb, 
breasts, and a general weakness of all the 
genital organs indicated but too surely an 
enfeebled and relaxed condition of the sys- 
tem, calling for the immediate application 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 123 

of remedial measures of some sort. The 
physician whom I called did not seem to 
understand the case, or, if he did, he mis- 
erably failed in his selection of remedies ; 
for, instead of getting better, her maladies 
assumed a more dangerous and complicated 
form. She ceased to become a mother, and 
seemed to be beset by all those disorders 
which call so loudly for our sympathy and 
aid. Labor and exercise of any kind be- 
come too irksome to be borne, whilst head- 
aches, indigestion, pains in the abdomen, 
great susceptibility to atmospheric chan- 
ges, extreme irregularity in all the natural 
functions, bleedings and other discharges, 
combined to depress her spirits and under- 
mine her strength, until she is now but a 
wreck of her former self. With this wear- 
ing away of the physical forces, there is 
also a decay of the mental faculties still 
more distressing to witness. She has fever 
to a considerable degree, yet the absence 



124 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

of the hectic flush of the cheek, or cough, 
or other usual signs of consumption, leads 
me to indulge the belief that her disease 
is not consumption in any of its forms. 

Physicians have repeatedly intimated 
consumption, spinal disease, or some ova- 
rian complaint, and have, in turn, treated 
her for all these ; and yet, the same emaci- 
ation, loss of appetite, discharges of blood 
and serum, disinclination to effort of any 
kind, and repugnance to all society, con- 
tinues as at first. Were I not afraid to en- 
tertain the thought, or pronounce the word, 
I should say that imbecility was the proper 
term to employ as descriptive of the condi- 
tion to which she appears to be now fast 
tending. She makes less complaint than 
formerly, and manifests less solicitude for 
her restoration to health ; and I feai; there 
are grounds for this in the almost passive 
state to which she is reduced. I wish it- 
were so that I could induce her to undergo 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 125 

the journey necessary to see you, but that 
is entirely out of the question, From what 
I have written, can you form any just idea 
of her disease, and would you venture to 
take her case in hand ? Could you do this, 
doctor, I should consider myself fortunate 
in having secured your services in her be- 
half. Enclosed please find a fee, which I 
trust will be satisfactory. 

Your early reply will be awaited for 
with deep anxiety, and gratefully appre- 
ciated by 

Most respectfully, your ob ? t serv't, 



If the reader has perused this book with 
any degree of attention, and failed to re- 
cognize in the above description, by her 
husband, of Mrs. M.'s case, a clear and de- 
cided case of self-abuse, then I cannot give 
him credit for ordinary penetration and 
acuteness. 



126 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

I introduce this letter, and the case it 
describes, in order to show to the reader a 
peculiar characteristic of this propensity, 
not alone confined to females, but shared 
alike by both sexes. Here was a lady who 
had lived under the same roof, shared the 
same bed, and otherwise cohabited with 
an affectionate, confiding, and devoted 
husband for thirteen years ; and yet, all 
this time, had been able to elude his watch- 
fulness to that extent as to completely dis- 
arm suspicion itself; whilst he, hapless 
husband that he was, in the supposition 
that his wife was the victim of some deep- 
seated and occult disorder, far beyond the 
reach of ordinary skill, and, as it has been 
shown, not even thought of by the many 
doctors who had attended her, was about 
to surrender her to the grave, as past the 
possibility of cure, never dreamed that his 
wife was simply a masturbationist, and as 
such, as fit a subject for medical treatment 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 127 

as though she was simply affected by ca- 
tarrh, or any other analagous disease. ? Tis 
true that she had inflicted serious and 
almost fatal injury upon herself ; but she 
was not yet past hope of restoration. The 
striking feature of the case is the cunning, 
secresy, and deception resorted to by the 
subjects of this vice. Strange as it may 
appear, the habit seems to sharpen all the 
faculties of concealment and duplicity, 
whilst it deadens and paralyzes every 
moral sentiment, and leads its votaries to 
deceive and to shun their best friends and 
most intimate associates. Even the pros- 
pects of relief are disregarded, and the 
kindest purposes of the physician often 
thwarted by a concealment and evasion 
rarely resorted to under any other circum- 
stances. With this patient neither strata- 
gem nor circumlocution would be available. 
My only course was to attack her with 
plainness of speech and directness of in- 



128 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

quiry. With her husband's permission I 
wrote to her, stating, not my suspicions 
merely, but charging her directly with 
being addicted to solitary vices, and attri- 
buting all her maladies and sufferings to 
them alone. Whether she ever showed 
that letter to her husband, is more than I 
can say. But a short time afterwards I 
received a letter directly from herself, 
begging me to prescribe for her, as she 
was " satisfied that I understood her case, 
and would do for her better than any one 
else." 

Of course I immediately acceded to her 
request, and, carefully protecting myself 
against any surprises or duplicity on her 
part, I subjected her to a rigid and thorough 
course of treatment, both medicinal and 
hygienic, until, both from her own and her 
husband's statements, she had completely 
regained her former good health. Subse- 
quently, on becoming personally acquaint- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 129 

ed with her, she informed me that, up to 
that moment, her husband had remained in 
entire ignorance of the true cause and na- 
ture of her complaints ; and she thanked 
me over and over again, not only for the 
decided steps I had taken, but for the dis- 
creet, cautious, as well as successful man- 
ner in which I had treated her, and relieved 
her of all her troubles. 

I might continue, with the materials in 
my possession, to illustrate by letters and 
testimonials without number, the great 
success which has ever attended that sys- 
tem of treatment which I have adopted in 
those cases usually denominated " delicate," 
and which forms so large a share of those 
which afflict mankind. Notwithstanding 
the country, and our large cities especially, 
is literally crowded by those who make 
large pretensions to extraordinary skill, 
and style themselves '" doctors," whose 
only claim to that distinction is that they 



130 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

are able to keep up a standing advertise- 
ment in some of our newspapers, but whose 
real attainments in medical science can be 
measured by an 0. I have felt that in the 
open, liberal, and faithful exercise of a 
specialty made honorable by such names 
as Abercrombie, Hunter, Bell, Bicord, 
Acton, and many others whose learned in- 
vestigation and writings upon this subject 
have done so much to benefit mankind, 
I need not fear, nor shrink from being 
placed on any degree in the scale of " pro- 
fessional respectability/ 7 to which my pro- 
fessional brethren may choose to assign 
me. My tribunal is the public at large, 
and by its judgment I am content to abide. 
It has been truly said that " nothing suc- 
ceeds so well as success." Judged by 
this criterion, I do not hesitate to compare 
myself with any pf my compeers, certain 
as I am that, in point of numbers cured, I 
excel them all. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 131 

And here allow me to say that, although 
I do not, by any means, design this book 
as an advertising medium, but solely what 
it claims to be, — A Medical Advertiser, 
and Guide to Health, — yet I believe my 
readers will concur with me in the strict 
propriety of calling attention to the great 
facilities I possess for the care and treat- 
ment of the sick at my extensive establish- 
ment No. 3 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass. 
Secluded from general observation, in one 
of the pleasantest streets in the city, with 
easy access to all public conveyances, and 
in the immediate neighborhood of the chief 
objects of public interest, the Mall, the 
Common, the Public Garden, the Horticul- 
tural Rooms, the Museum, the Reservoir, 
and the State House, I claim for it advan- 
tages of location possessed by no other 
private establishment in the city. Good 
nursing, careful and faithful attendance, 
and medical treatment under my own im- 



132 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

mediate supervision, with all remedies 
directly from my own laboratory, will 
ensure to patients all that science, art, and 
skill can offer for their comfort and relief. 
I prefer to consult orally with my patients, 
if possible. But if that be impossible, or 
inconvenient, letters, plainly and distinctly 
written, stating the nature of the disease, 
the age and occupation of the patient r ad- 
dressed to me, containing two dollars, 
consultation fee, will be promptly attended 
to. In order to avoid any mistakes and 
delay, please direct letters as follows : — 
F. MORRILL, M. D., 
No. 3 Bulfinch Street, Boston, Mass. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 133 



CHAPTER V. 
RECIPES. 

IN addition to directions already given 
for the treatment of the more common 
diseases for which the aid of a physician is 
required and most usually sought after, I 
have thought it best to subjoin here a few 
of the most valuable and reliable prescrip- 
tions, to which the sufferer may safely 
resort in case of need. These prescrip- 
tions are the result of a large experience, 
and may be safely depended upon. With 
one or two exceptions, they are such as 
can be put up in any country apothecary's 
store, and may be used, as directed, with 
perfect safety. All these diseases have so 
many modifications, and patients differ so 
much in susceptibility to contagion and 
inflammation, as well as in the resistant 



134 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

powers of nature, that no two cases can 
be properly treated alike. What would 
cure one person in forty-eight hours of a 
slight attack, might be as inert and power- 
less with another as so much water. It is 
the physician alone, who by his powers of 
discrimination and judgment, derived from 
a long familiarity with the various shades 
of these complaints, can with certainty be 
relied upon. I have selected the following 
prescriptions from among those I most 
frequently use in my own practice, and 
can safely recommend them : — 

On the first appearance of Clap, what 
is termed the abortive treatment may 
prove successful in arresting its further pro- 
gress. For this purpose make a solution 
of acetate of lead and sulphate of zinc about 
ten grains to the ounce, to which may 
be added a little laudanum. This is to be 
used in the form of an injection three 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 135 

times daily, taking care to keep it at least 
three minutes each time in the urethra. 

A good wash for a simple Chancre. 
R. Acid Tanici, 

Zinc Sulph., each 2 grs. 
Soft Water, 2 drs. 

Saturate a bit of lint larger than the 
sore, so as to keep it moist, and at the 
same time cover the sore, to protect the 
opposite healthy surface. 

Ricord's Anti-Syphilitic Pill is an excel- 
lent remedy on the first appearance of a 
Canchre, and often proves a perfect anti- 
dote to constitutional infection. 

I do not give the recipe for its compo- 
sition, as ordinarily it would be difficult to 
get them made up at a country apothe- 
cary's shop. I keep them, constantly pre- 
pared by myself, from M. Record's original 
recipe, which he was kind enough to fur- 
nish me. The dose is one pill three times 



136 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

a day. I supply them in all cases neces- 
sary, accompanied with every needed di- 
rection. 

Injections of Nitrate of Silver, in cases 
of gonorrhoea are objectionable, except 
administered by, or under the immediate 
supervision of the physician, as an abortive 
remedy. It is one of the very best, but is 
sometimes dangerous, causing violent in- 
flammation, and constitutional disturbance. 
Inflammation at the neck of the bladder ; 
abscess in the prostrate and perineum; 
swelled testicle, and bubo, have all been 
known to succeed caustic injections, and 
bring with them their attendant dangers. 
Its use is also apt to be attended with 
vexatious staining of the hands and linen, 
difficult to be got rid of, and thus likely to 
create suspicion and produce exposure. 

The Chlorate of Potash may be used 
with every assurance of success and safety. 
It is not so prompt in its effects as the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 137 

Nitrate of Silver, and requires some degree 
of perseverance in its use to perfect a 
cure : — 

R. Chlorate of Potash, one drachm, 
Water, eight ounces. 

Mix. In the early stages use an injection 
every hour, for twelve hours ; then four, 
and finally three times a day. All reme- 
dies for gonorrhoea should be continued, in 
reduced doses, for a week, at least, after a 
discharge ceases. 

In obstinate cases of gonorrhoea, and 
leucorrhoea in females, the following mix- 
ture of astringent of bark of Bazil is often 
found highly effective : — 

R. Decoct, cort. adstring. Brasil; 7 fluid 
ounces, 
Copaib, cum vitelli ovi qs. subact. 
Tinct. ferri pomati aa, seven drachms, 
Syrup balsam, one fluid ounce. 
Dose. A spoonful every two hours. 



138 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

These prescriptions should only be put 
up by a careful apothecary. 

In the chronic stages of gonorrhoea and 
gleet, Creosote is often found to be a very 
useful remedy, taken in doses of two drops, 
with .loaf-sugar beaten into syrup with 
water, three or four times a day. Ordi- 
nary cases of leucorrhoea, in females, may 
generally be cured in three or four days 
by weak injections of Creosote, two drops 
to the ounce of water, repeated twice, or 
thrice daily. Copaiba should never be 
used at the same time with Creosote. 

I consider it quite unnecessary to mul- 
tiply prescriptions for the diseases above 
alluded to, as they would only serve to 
embarrass and perplex the sufferer. Those 
now given are only designed for his use, 
until he can have recourse to some honest 
and skilful physician. Let him avoid all 
patent and advertised remedies, and quack 
humbugs, and he cannot fail to be better 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 139 

off, and far safer, than in the hands of the 
charlatan knave who is solely after his 
money. 

In cases of syphilitic attacks, such as 
the appearance of a chancre, a simple water 
dressing with lint, is all that is nece&sary 
until a physician can be consulted. In any 
case, a resort to mercurial or potassium, 
or any of the popular remedies, should be 
avoided until prescribed by him. Should 
the canchre have made much progress, 
sprinkling it with pure dry calomel is often 
found very beneficial. In a large majority 
of cases, the alterative effects of mercury 
can be better attained by using the com- 
mon blue ointment, (unguentum) rubbing it 
upon the inside of the thighs. Should the 
palate, or roof of the mouth be attacked, 
the common black wash, procured at any 
druggist's, may be carefully applied with a 
camePs hair pencil ; or, a small bit of the 
nitrate of silver^ carefully inserted in a 



140 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

quill, may be drawn over and around the 
edges of the sore. By the aid of a small 
mirror, the patient may do this for himself, 
as effectually as the best surgeon in the 
world. 

The reader will, I trust, constantly bear 
in mind that these suggestions in regard 
to his use of medical agencies, are only 
designed to aid him when he cannot at 
once have the benefit of the advice and 
direction of a good doctor. Persons resid- 
ing in villages and country towns, where 
there are but one or two physicians at 
most, are very often quite reluctant to con- 
sult with them, or to expose to them their 
condition, and consequently prefer to run 
the risk of doctoring themselves for awhile, 
until they can repair to the city. There 
is prudence in this course for more reasons 
than simply the dislike to make the family, 
or neighborhood doctor, a confident in 
your troubles. The country doctor seldom 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 141 

knows anything about this class of diseases. 
When a student, he may have read some- 
thing about them, and a general knowledge 
of them, as derived from the books, may 
have been attained as a part of his medical 
education ; but who is there that does not 
know very well that the treatment of all 
these diseases are now entirely different 
from what it was even ten years ago, and 
that the writings of even such standard 
authors as Thomas, the Bells, Copeland, 
and a host of others whom 1 might name, 
are altogether out of date, and entirely 
unreliable upon these subjects. I do not 
mean to intimate that there are not as good 
doctors in the country towns as in the 
city : there are many country doctors who 
would justly be regarded as ornaments to 
their profession anywhere. But the coun- 
try practitioner is not called upon to exer- 
cise his skill in private diseases, to that 
extent as to prompt him to become an 



142 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

expert in their treatment. A case or 
two in a year, and perhaps not even 
that, is generally the extent of his expe- 
rience, and even these he touches reluc- 
tantly. If he cures, well. If he fails, it is 
just as well to him ; he knows that his 
patient will keep still about it in either 
case. I knew a case some years ago, 
where a young gentleman residing in a 
country town, on his first visit to the city, 
was so unfortunate as to contract for the 
first time, a simple gonorrhoea. It did not 
develope itself fully until his return home, 
when, suspecting the cause of his trouble, 
he applied to his friend, the village doctor 
for relief. That gentleman was considered 
one of the very best physicians and sur- 
geons in the whole region around. His 
large practice, and uniform success, made 
him prominent as one of the safest and 
most reliable medical counsellors, in all 
that section of country. Of course he 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 143 

readily undertook my young friend's case, 
and for months, and months, he dosed, 
drugged, and tormented him, with all the 
various compounds, and combinations of 
copaiba, cubebs, nitre, various emulsions, 
&c, &c, until the poor fellow was literally 
worn down to skin and bone. He has 
often since shown me the old doctor's 
account and bill of items for that siege, as 
he termed it, and there, running through a 
period of over six months, is put down day 
and date, and item by item, a list of medi- 
cines, in all, with services, amounting to 
over two hundred dollars, for the treat- 
ment, (not cure mind you) of a simple 
case that I could have easily cured in a 
week's time, at a tenth part of the expense. 
Now-a-days the treatment of urino-genital 
diseases, and all disorders of the genera- 
tive organs, and their functions, has settled 
down into a science as exact as that of any 
other ; and in conformity with a custom 
• 



144 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

long established in European capitals, the 
treatment of this class of diseases is con- 
fined to a few, who are designated as 
specialists, who have perfected themselves 
in this particular branch of medical and 
surgical science, by great aptitude for it, 
extensive study and investigation, and the 
practical experience afforded by a varied 
and extensive practice. With them it is 
emphatically true that, " practice makes 
perfect," and as success is about the best 
criterion of merit, the afflicted have only 
to inquire who of them it is, that is reputed 
to have the most extensive practice. That 
fact ascertained, there need be no further 
difficulty in making the selection of your 
medical adviser. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 145 



CHAPTER VI. 

SPERMATORRHOEA, SEMINAL WEAKNESS AND 
NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS. 

I CANNOT conclude this branch of my 
treatise without a more particular allu- 
sion to a class of diseases affecting the 
procreative organs, which are alarmingly 



Note. It is a well-known fact to every specialist 
of established reputation for skill and scientific attain- 
ments that there are few, if indeed any complaints 
affecting the urinary and generative organs, which 
afflict so many as those named at the head of this 
chapter. There are literally thousands in this city, 
and a proportionate number in all our cities and 
towns more or less affected by them, leading lives of 
wretchedness almost bordering upon despair at their 
condition. This need not be so. These troubles are 
as amenable to medical treatment as any others in the 
whole catalogue of human diseases. It is only when 
sufferers fall into the hands of ignorant charlatans and 
quacks, who make large pretensions of special skill 
in such cases, that they find their promises of relief 



146 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

prevalent, and gradually undermining the 
very foundations of our best manhood and 
womanhood in their most interesting and 
important relations to society and domestic 
life. Whether it is that, owing to a more 
general dissemination of knowledge in this 
respect, through an outspoken candor on 
the part of the medical profession, or that 



and restoration are made only to be unfulfilled through 
sheer inability to do as they have agreed, if nothing 
worse. 

Spermatorrhoea, Seminal Weakness, Nocturnal 
Emissions, and Impotency arising therefrom, or from 
any other cause whatever, can be cured by proper 
treatment ; and we are ready to guarantee a thorough 
and radical cure in all such cases. During our long 
practice of now nearly the third of a century, we have 
treated many thousands of cases which had been of 
long standing, and apparently incurable, rendered so 
in too many instances by the rash experiments and 
mal-treatment of self-styled doctors, professors, med- 
ical lecturers, and others of the like character. We 
have never yet failed to cure, in every instance, 
where we assured the patient that a cure was possible, 
which we believe to be in ninety-nine out of a hun- 
dred of those afflicted. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 147 

the habits and tendencies of society, as 
now constituted, leading to that result, it 
is a most melancholy truth, that at the 
present time, the disorders and infirmities 
coming under those named at the head of 
this chapter are alarmingly prevalent, and 
applications for their treatment occupy no 
inconsiderable share of the time and atten- 
tion of the well-known specialist. In the 
whole range of his duties as a medical 
adviser, does he find any physical derange- 
ments, the successful treatment of which 
are so difficult, and generally speaking, so 
unsatisfactory to himself and patient, as 
these. This is not so much in consequence 
of any difficulty and doubt attending the 
proper mode of treatment to be observed, 
as in the difficulty of securing the patient's 
strict observance of the rules prescribed 
for his cure. 

The common and vulgar notion which 
prevails, especially among the uneducated, 



148 MEDICAL ADVISER- 

that wonderful virtues are connected with 
excessive drugging and dosing, and that 
there is some magic power contained in a 
" bottle of medicine/' they cannot relinquish 
the idea that health and constant pill-eating 
or potion-swallowing, are inseparable. They 
imagine and expect that the consequences 
of a life of indiscretion, excess, and, it may 
be of bestiality, or something worse, is to 
be overcome and done away with in a few 
days or weeks at farthest, by a twenty or 
thirty dollar bottle of some compound 
which some cunning M. D. has advertised 
under the high-sounding title of Panacea, 
Invigorator, Regenerator, Balsam of Life, 
or something of the kind, the more far- 
fetched and nonsensical the better. It is 
hard to convince such people that the 
stamina of a constitution, sapped and 
undermined by years of violence perpe- 
trated on themselves, is to be restored by 
the simple administration of a few tonics, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 149 

and that a week or two of self-denial will 
be all that is necessary to set them all 
right again. That this idea is flattered 
and taken advantage of by most of the 
unprincipled quacks who advocate their 
11 specific " cures and wonderful remedies 
is notoriously true, and whilst at the pres- 
ent day, a few unsophisticated country- 
men, and simple-minded youth may be 
taken in by such " chaff/ 7 no reputable phy- 
sician, whose conscientious regard to what 
he owes to his profession, and to the welfare 
of his patient, will for a moment counte- 
nance such downright imposition upon the 
credulous and unsuspecting. In the course 
of my long experience, almost daily dealing 
with this class of patients, and deriving 
no inconsiderable portion of my profes- 
sional income from their treatment, I have 
ever found candor, truth, and straight- 
forward dealing, the most successful and 
abiding in their results. I frankly state 



150 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

io my patient the nature of his difficulties, 
how they have been produced, the disor- 
ganizing process which has long been 
going on, and the need of moral and 
hygienic, as well as medical treatment for 
his restoration. I convince him, by refer- 
ence to himself and his own experience, 
that I understand his case as well as though 
I had watched his every movement from 
his boyhood up, and instead of sending 
him away a hopeless, desponding wretch, 
in his estimation, fitted only for the mad- 
house, or a suicide's grave, I open to him 
new hopes, a new life, and convince him 
that, there is yet in him the stuff of which 
men, active, useful, noble men are made. I 
point out to him a method of relief and cure, 
so certain, efficacious, and reliable, that his 
common sense at once seconds all I have to 
say and offer to him. I at once strip aside 
the veil which has been placed before his 
eyes by the cunning and avaricious knaves- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 151 

who may have hitherto preyed "upon his 
weakness and his fears, and show to him 
how, with a few simple remedies, and a 
fair perseverance in a course of treatment, 
by no means difficult to be followed, (a 
knowledge of which is of far greater value 
to him in gold, than all the potions in the 
world) he can be re-invigorated, rejuve- 
nated, and restored without fear of relapse, 
or doing violence to any law of his being. 
That masturbation is, in ninety-nine 
cases out of a hundred, the direct cause of 
Spermatorrhoea is generally admitted ; but 
all seminal weakness is not Spermatorrhoea ; 
and although the complaint is, as I have 
before stated, alarmingly prevalent, and on 
the increase, yet it is only the skilful 
diagnostician that can properly discriminate 
between it and many other complaints 
producing almost similar effects, such as 
nocturnal emissions, etc., that it "would be 
extremely improper, and often very unsafe 



152 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

for the patient to attempt, unadvisedly, to 
treat himself. General rules may, how- 
ever, with great propriety be given, by 
the observance of which, very sensible 
relief may be obtained. In a conversation 
held by myself many years ago, with the 
venerable Dr. Samuel Thompson, the father 
the Botanical school of medicine in this 
country, speaking of some inflammatory 
disease then under consideration, the old 
doctor, in reply to an inquiry as to the 
best mode of treatment, threw out, in his 
terse, common sense way, this hint : " take 
off the wood and the fire will go out," an 
aphorism which contains a world of wisdom, 
and in no sense more applicable than to 
the subject under consideration. No med- 
ication, however skilfully devised, no moral 
or hygenic treatment, however persever- 
ingly followed, can avail anything, so long 
as the miserable practice which has given 
rise to the disease is indulged in. To effect 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 153 

its entire and instant abandonment should 
be the first care of the medical adviser. 
He should be plain and outspoken in his 
expression of the evils of the practice, and 
assuming the privilege which is justly 
considered as the duty of every upright 
physician, point out to the transgressor 
that his sin is one against the laws of God, 
as well as against his own well-being, and 
that for strength to aid him in his efforts 
for recovery, he should look higher than to 
mere professional skill for assistance and 
support. " Lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil/ 7 should be his 
constant prayer. In this frame of mind, 
and taught that masturbation is a " cow- 
ardly, selfish and debasing habit/ 7 he may 
with confidence rely upon the efforts of 
the surgeon to remedy the mischiefs which 
have been done by previous excess. If he 
understands his business, these remedies 
will not be confined to any one set of 



154 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

prescriptions, but adapted to the age, con- 
stitution, habits, peculiarities, and temper- 
ament of the patient. Whilst in some 
cases, the simple abstinence from late sup- 
pers, tea, coffee and tobacco, the use of 
straw mattrasses to lie upon instead of 
feather beds, the use of the shower-bath 
every morning, regular exercise short of 
fatigue, such as boating' riding, boxing, or 
walking, will accomplish wonders, and pre- 
clude the necessity of a resort to more 
active measures ; the use of tonics, very 
nutricious food, and sea-air, will be indi- 
cated as necessary to re-invigorate the 
system at a later stage of the complaint ; 
and when the victim has been a sufferer 
for years, nothing short of a complete sur- 
render of himself into the hands of his 
medical adviser, can save him from the 
consequences of his follies. 

In regard to this subject, an eminent 
London practitioner says : 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 155 

u Amongst the many modes of relief 
and as averting the consequences of invol- 
untary emissions, many well meaning writ- 
ers and physicians advise marriage to en- 
feebled, or seemingly impotent patients, 
under the single injunction to be con- 
tent with very moderate endeavors to 
to exert their powers ; and in the hope 
that the function would respond to 
a natural call upon it. Instances are 
called up in which it is asserted that 
almost infantile organs have undergone 
developement under this stimulus, and 
others in which the effects of masturba- 
tion have been completely recovered from 
under the same influence. Notwithstand- 
ing this, we hold that to advise a man of 
questionable powers to marry, in the hope 
or even with the probability that he may 
gain strength in consequence, is at once 
immoral, unscientific, and unmanly. It is 
subjecting the health, the happiness, and 



156 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

even the virtue of a woman to risks that 
she ought not to incur. Family prac- 
titioners well know how large a number of 
uterine maladies are directly traceable to 
ill-assorted unions ; and it would hardly be 
possible to inflict upon a bride a greater 
physical evil than a marriage which should 
awaken her own sexual desires and then 
utterly fail to satisfy them. The men who 
are the subjects of sexual weakness are, 
as a rule, inexpressibly nasty ; and are not 
calculated to strengthen a woman under 
such adverse circumstances, or to improve 
the moral tendencies of her character. In 
many instances nature will secure the wife 
against uterine disease, by arming her with 
a loathing for her husband, which renders 
it impossible for him to excite in her any- 
thing except disgust ; and then it is not 
unusual for her to solace herself with 
other men, or to desert her home for some 
more capable companion. The restoration 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 157 

of generative efficiency to a patient who 
has thrown it away is, doubtless, a matter 
of very great importance to himself, but 
infinitely more so to the woman whom he 
contemplates taking to his bed as his wife. 
Even in the interests of society it would 
be better to emasculate him at once than to 
hand over to him the health, happiness 
and honor of a woman, to be thus used as a 
remedial agent in his behalf, and to be sac- 
rificed in case of failure. The surgeon 
may, very properly, and should teach his 
patient that marriage might, indeed, be the 
reward of properly applied restorative re- 
medies, self-denial, and of abstinence from 
masturbation ; but it must not be under- 
taken as an experiment, or prior to the 
return of a capacity for the due perform- 
ance of the function that it involves. The 
utmost benefit that could possibly be gain- 
ed by marriage under such circumstances, 
for such objects, would be infinitesimal in 



158 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

comparison with the evils of possible 
failure."— James D. Wakely, M. D., M. It. 
C. #., Editor London Lancet, in December, 
No., 1870. 

One of the most eminent surgeons and 
medical writers of the present day; T. B. 
Curling, F.R.S., Surgeon to the London 
Hospital, President of the Hunterian So- 
ciety, London, etc., in his great work on 
Diseases of the Testis in treating on Sper- 
matorrhoea, gives a much better descrip- 
tion of its peculiar characteristics than any 
other writer whom I have consulted, and 
so completely agrees with my own obser- 
vations, that I cannot do better than to 
quote what he says upon the subject. He 
says, " Spermatorrhoea comes on very 
gradually. It commences by a precipitate 
emission of semen, either in coition, or 
during lascivious dreams. There exists 
a morbid irritability of the organs. The 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 159 

emissions consequently are premature, and 
without force, and the erections slight and 
incomplete, and soon subside. As the 
affection increases, the emissions become 
more frequent, and more readily* excited, 
and are induced merely by erotic ideas, or 
the least contact or tittilation, and takes 
place without erection, and without pleas- 
ure. In this weak and susceptible condi- 
tion of the organs, involuntary pollutions 
are liable to occur both day and night, 
constituting a state of passive spermatorr- 
hoea which often lasts for many months, 
gradually undermining the health. The 
patient becomes thin, pale, and feeble ; has 
impaired vision, and a sickly, languid look ; 
is hypocondrical and apathetic, and un- 
fitted for active bodily or mental occupa- 
tion. He often experiences uneasy sen- 
sations in the testicles, which are soft, and 
hang low. The scrotum (bag) is pendu- 
lous and lax. His symptoms are aggravat- 



180 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ed after each emission, which is usually 
followed by a painful sense of fatigue and 
uneasiness which lasts many hours. 77 Speak- 
ing of the most common cause of the com- 
plaint, he says, " It is most frequently pro- 
duced by long-continued and persistent 
self-abuse, those who give way to this habit 
being very little aware of the evils it en- 
genders. The practice frequently acquires 
a complete mastery over the reason and 
will. In some cases not the strongest self- 
control can repress the disposition to abuse ; 
and persons fully aware of the evil results, 
and actually dreading the consequences, 
are unable to restrain their fatal desires. 
In these cases there is a peculiar morbid 
condition of the nervous system. Indeed, 
the debilitating and enervating effects of 
this affection are far greater than would be 
occasioned merely by a drain of the amount 
of fluid emitted, which is to be ascribed to 
the nervous exhaustion especially attend- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 161 

ing the reproductive function. The con- 
dition of these persons is melancholy 
enough. One of the sad results of habitual 
self-abuse and excessive spermatorrhoea is 
a morbid condition of the brain, giving 
rise to epileptic symptoms. In some cases 
it may be found that the cerebral affection 
had existed previously — but confirmed and 
aggravated under the excitement and ner- 
vous exhaustion consequent on the prac- 
tice ; generally, however, the epileptic 
paroxysms appear to be caused solely by 
excessive masturbation. Such is but a 
portion of the heavy penalty often paid by 
man for gross indulgence in sensuality — 
a degraded nature and a ruined constitu- 
tion, embittering the best days of his ex- 
istence, and sometimes even leading to 
insanity or suicide. 77 

I have quoted this not only for its intrin- 
sic value, as a most faithful description of 
the leading features of this dreadful affec- 



162 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

tion, but also as a distinct testimonial by 
one of the greatest surgeons of the age, 
that it is not ? as is too frequently charged, 
that physicians are apt, from mercenary 
considerations, to excite the fears and 
apprehensions of their patients, by exag- 
gerating the dangers of self-abuse and 
spermatorrhoea, in order to protract their 
treatment, and increase their fees. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 163 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE TESTICLES : 

THEIR STRUCTURE, AXD THE DISEASES TO 
WHICH THEY ARE LIABLE. 

THE frequency with which I have been 
consulted, especially during the past 
year, in regard to certain diseases of the 
testicles, has led me to believe, that for 
some reason not yet satisfactorily explain- 
ed, these complaints are far more common 
and prevalent than formerly. Swelled tes- 
ticle, orchites, epiditymitis, and such like 
affections, are getting to be cases of almost 
every day's occurrence, and were it possi- 
ble, one might suppose them epidemical. 
From a careful study of the subject, I 
incline to the opinion that this painful 



164 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

malady is oftener ; than from any other 
cause, a consecutive, rather than a primary 
affection, arising from badly managed dis- 
eases of some part of the urinary organs, 
or generative apparatus, which, had it been 
properly dealt with, would not have been 
run into a sequella so distressing, and so 
troublesome to deal with by both physician 
and patient. Usually when a person finds 
himself thus attacked, he hesitates to make 
application for medical assistance, in the 
hope that his trouble is only a temporary 
one, and that it will go, as he apprehends 
it came, of itself. A little rest, some stim- 
ulating application, or a bath, he appre- 
hends, to be all that is necessary, and that 
a day or two, at the farthest, will set him 
all right again. In no one malady of the 
generative organs, do individuals "so fre- 
quently, and I may add, so dangerously de- 
ceive themselves as in this. When it is 
remembered that orchitis, or swelled testi- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 165 

cle rarely confines itself to a single testis, 
but when once fairly set in continues its 
work until botli are involved, and that it 
rarely leaves the patient otherwise than in 
a complete state of sterility, if not of im- 
potence itself, we can readily understand 
the serious importance attached to an early 
and timely application for medical assis- 
tance for this complaint. A. very slight 
knowledge of the anatomical structure of 
the testis, and the important part they 
play in the generative functions of man, 
will at once convince the most superficial 
observer, that these organs cannot be tri- 
fled with, and the individual go unpunished. 
In fully four-fifths of the cases where off- 
spring do not result from certain unions, at 
least in the same proportion may the " fault/ 7 
or unfruitfulness be properly attributed 
to the husband, rather than to the wife. 
Very few women in good health are sterile. 
Xone are so where there is not malfor- 



166 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

mation, displacement, or some other organic 
impediment, few are impotent ; but repeated 
epididymitis, or orchitis, although it may 
not produce atrophy of the testicle is sure 
to destrojr the power to secrete sperma- 
tozia, without which impregnation is im- 
possible. The semen, or what may resem- 
ble it, may be abundant, its ejaculation 
vigorous, but unless it be animated by the 
living spermatazoon, as for all the purpo- 
ses of impregnation it is as inert as so much 
starch. I have scores of complaining 
husbands annually to consult me, who 
cannot comprehend how it is that they, 
being well, and as they assert, hearty and 
vigorous every way, performing the copu- 
lative act satisfactorily, the female regular, 
and yet they are childless. Upon pushing 
my inquiries, as I usually do in all such 
cases, I soon discover the fact that, at 
gome period of their lives they have had 
swelled testicle. It has troubled them for 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 167 

a time, been very painful, yielded, perhaps 
to remedies, and left them, apparently well 
as ever ; that is to say, there has been no 
apparent enfeeblement of the scrotum, no 
diminution in the size of the testicles, or 
loss of power to a perfect gratification in 
the sexual congress. But when brought 
to the microscopic test, the living witnesses 
of fecundity are wanting. By a wise ar- 
rangement of " the former of our bodies/' 
the testicles are so placed and arranged 
that there is little danger to be appre- 
hended to them from anything without : 
contained within the scrotum, they are sus- 
pended at a variable and unequal distance 
from the abdominal rings, one testis, gen- 
erally the left, hanging a little lower than 
the other. This arrangement prevents 
any collision between them when the 
thighs are suddenly brought together, one 
testicle slipping above the other, and elud- 
ing violence. It is only very seldom, and 



168 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

then by mere accident, such as the kick of 
a horse, or man, or a fall astride of some 
hard substance, that external causes pro- 
duce injury to them. The exciting cause 
of disease, whatever may be its nature, is 
almost universally from within, and oftener 
sympathetic and secondary, rather than pri- 
mary and congenital. As I am writing this 
for general and popular instruction and not 
for professional use, I will not, as I need 
not, undertake a scientific description of the 
structure of the testis, their appendages, 
and adjuncts in the interesting offices they 
perform. To be useful to the reader I 
shall do something better for him than by 
tasking his mind by an enumeration and 
classification of anatomical peculiarities m 
which he cannot be supposed to take any 
interest, and which, were I to undertake, 
would cover more ground than I can afford 
to devote to this purpose. With the 
view, however, to impress upon the minds 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 169 

of rny readers some idea of the wonderful 
nature of the structure of the testis, I 
cannot help alluding to a few facts, going 
to show that, excepting the brain, no part 
of the human structure presents such a 
demonstration of the scriptural assertion 
that we are ' wonderfully J as well as fear- 
fully made. Thus, what is technically 
called the Tubuli Seminiferi, or seminal 
tubes, which form by far the bulk of the 
glandular structure of the testis, nnmber 
at least three hundred ; and some anatomists 
place them as high as eight hundred and 
forty ! whilst their length united is not less 
than seventeen hundred and fifty feet ! One 
of the earliest indications of imperfections, 
either in the structure, or imperfect work- 
ing of some portion of the functions of the 
testis, is their retention of one or both of 
them above the abdominal ring ; that is to 
say, they do not descend, as they ought for 
proper developement and growth into the 



170 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

scrotum. It was the opinion of the cele- 
brated Dr. Hunter, that when one or both 
testicles remain in the belly, they are ex- 
ceedingly imperfect and incapable of per- 
forming their natural functions ; and al- 
though this opinion has been strongly 
combatted by many eminent surgeons 
since his day, still it is clearly established 
that this condition predisposes to scrotal 
rupture, eventually resulting in serious 
injury of the reproductive faculties. That 
it does prevent its growth is certain ; and 
cases are on record, where individuals of 
all ages, from six months to sixty years, 
has had the testicle, if not completely 
atrophied, at least stunted, so that at no 
period has it exceeded an ordinary bean in 
size, although the penis may be largely 
developed, the venerial appetite active, 
and the erectile powers good. There can 
be no doubt then, that in all cases where 
there is retension of the testis, in either 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 171 

young or old persons, the surgeon should 
at once be consulted. The remedy is gen- 
erally the application of a proper truss, of 
the form, size and adjustment of which, he 
only is the proper judge, and I cannot too 
strongly advise parents and others inter- 
ested in, or having charge of 3 x oungsters 
in whom this peculiarity exists, at once to 
attend to it. There is very high authority 
to recommend this course. Dr. Marshall, 
in his hints to young medical officers in the 
army, page 83, states that, in the examina- 
tion of recruits he found many in whom 
the right, and in others the left testicle 
was not apparent, and in two out of every 
five of these cases there was inguinal her- 
nia on the side where the testicle had not 
descended. An eminent writer on this 
subject says, " The detention of the testi- 
cle in the groin or abdomen must indeed 
be regarded, under any circumstances, as 
an unfortunate infirmity, but particularly 



172 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

when the gland is attacked with disease. 
One great disadvantage of such an imper- 
fection, which especially attaches to the 
detention of the testicle in the abdomen, 
arises from the relation preserved with the 
peretoneal cavity, by which morbid actions 
originating in the testicle, are liable to ex- 
tend to the parts in the abdomen ; and we 
cannot but view the passage of this gland 
into the scrotum, and the isolation of its 
serous investment, as a wise provision, 
obviating the serious risks to which man 
would otherwise be liable. " Besides other 
good reasons why it is important that the 
testis should be made to descend and 
occupy their normal place in the scrotum, 
there is one which is of so much weight 
that I cannot pass over it. A testicle retain- 
ed in the groin, when inflamed, is liable to 
be mistaken for a bubo, the prominent oval 
swelling communicating a deceptive feel- 
ing of fluctuation, and being unattended 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 173 

with pain, the skin over it occasionally 
exhibiting a reddish hue, and the tumor 
beins; seated in a region where bubo con- 
stantly occurs and suppurates. It is re- 
lated that the celebrated Ricord, of Paris, 
whom no one will accuse of unskilfulness 
in these matters, was once very nearly de- 
ceived in a case of this kind, and even 
called for a knife to open the supposed 
abscess ; but a re-examination of the tumor 
having led to the discovery of the absence 
of the testicle on that side of the scrotum, 
he made further investigation, and detected 
the true nature of the case ; of course the 
knife was not used. I deem it quite unne- 
cessary that I should multiply authorities 
]fi support of the views I have taken in 
regard to the great importance of early 
attending to this matter. In this, as in 
other diseases of the generative organs, 
especially in the male sex, a careful and 
exact diagnosis is of the first importance, 



174 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and that can only be made by a surgeon, 
whose practical knowledge enables him at 
once to measure the extent of the evil, and 
whose mechanical tact qualifies him read- 
ily to adjust such apparatus as is best 
adapted to remedy it. As a consequence 
of the retention of the test is in the body, 
thus retarding its proper developement 
and growth, there frequently results 

ATROPHY, OR WASTING OF THE TESTICLE. 

According to some authors the weight of 
the testicle is only four drachms ; Sir 
Astley Cooper however gives it as about 
an ounce, whilst the former estimate is evi- 
dently too low, the latter is probably too 
high. From frequent tests I have found 
that the average weight of a sound, heal- 
thy testicle of an ordinary sized man is 
about six drachms, and I should regard 
one weighing less than three drachms as 
in a state of atrophy. All those causes 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 175 

which produce decay in other parts of the 
body, likewise occasion the same result in 
the testicle. Thus, impeded circulation, 
pressure, want of exercise and loss of ner- 
vous influence, contribute to this condition. 
In variocele, the dilation of the spermatic 
veins consequent upon the impeded circu- 
lation impairs the nutrition of the testicle, 
and causes its imperfect developement. 
In such cases the left testicle is generally 
smaller than the right, whereas in a heal- 
thy state of the parts, the left is usually 
the larger of the two. By many persons 
it is supposed that a washing of the testi- 
cle results from abstinence from sexual in- 
tercourse, and that these glands remain 
somewhat small when not called upon to 
exercise their functions ; but I am not 
aware that there is any sufficient evidence 
or authority for this supposition. It is 
well known that in persons who marry 
after many years of celibacy, the testicles 



176 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

undergo a certain degree of enlargement, 
the same as any other bodily organ ac- 
quires power and vigor by use ? as the 
hand, arm, etc. On the other hand it is a 
great mistake to suppose that sexual con- 
nection in early life is essential to their 
healthy condition or preservation. Chastity 
and abstinence from all sexual indulgence, 
simulated or real, is of the first importance 
to the growing youth, and every expendi- 
ture of the seminal fluid at a too early age, 
is productive of nothing but evil. 

Wasting, or atrophy of the testicles, is 
liable to occur from many causes, such as 
excessive venerial indulgence, or onan- 
ism, strains from lifting heavy weights, 
over-excitement arising from dalliance 
with girls, with whom it is impossible to 
have more intimate relations ; and not un- 
frequently the use of improper drugs. 
Iodine is said to superinduce a shrinking, 
or wasting of the testicle. M. Cullerier, a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 177 

very distinguished French surgeon, has 
described in the " Memoires de la Societe 
de Chirurgie de Paris," the case of a young 
man who took from twenty-five to thirty 
drops of the tincture of Iodine for a period 
of three months, for the cure of an obsti- 
nate gonnorrhoea. This was followed by a 
state of impotency and partial wasting of 
the testicles, which lasted a year, and the 
organs never regained their former size 
and power. He also gives an account of 
another case, where the administration 
of the iodide of iron produced similar 
effects. 

Wasting of the testicle is also liable to 
result from injuries to the head, and Baron 
Larrey, the celebrated military surgeon in 
the times of the first Napoleon, records the 
case of a man who was wounded in the 
back of the neck by a musket-ball, Avhich 
grazed the lower protuberance on the back 
of the head, and although he recovered 



178 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

from the injury, the testicles were reduced 
to a state of atrophy, and the penis shrunk 
and remained inactive. Lallmand, the 
still more distinguished specialist and sur- 
geon, relates an instance where a soldier in 
the expedition to Algiers, received a sabre 
wound in the nape of the neck. His testi- 
cles were wasted, and venereal desires, as 
well as erections entirely ceased. I men- 
tion these cases to show the great impor- 
tance of not too lightly regarding the least 
indication of disease, or the slightest in- 
jury in those organs, constituting as they 
do, the chief magazine of man's virility and 
strength. Since the days of the Bells, 
Acton and Larrey, eminent as they were 
in their profession, great strides have been 
made in this branch of surgical science ; 
and a swelled testicle, although a cause of 
great pain, anxiety and trouble, need by no 
means be regarded with despair. As before 
stated, within the past two years, this class 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 179 

of complaints have become far more nume- 
rous, and of a more aggravated character 
than formerly, which fact has led to a closer 
investigation and examination into their 
causes, and the best mode of their treat- 
ment. Having convinced myself from re- 
peated failures in my attempts to arrest 
and cure by following the old system of 
leeching, escharotics and fomentations, I 
determined upon a different course entirely. 
The result has been, that in over seventy 
cases of severe orchitis, epididymitis, in- 
cipient atrophy, or wasting, whiqh I have 
had under my charge during the past two 
years, not a single instance has occurred 
in which the disease has not been almost 
immediately arrested, and the recovery 
rapid and permanent. 

I have dwelt thus largely upon the acci- 
dents and diseases to which the testicles 
are liable, because I am satisfied that their 
serious importance are not duly estimated 



180 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

by the profession generally. From my 
long experience in these matters, I do not 
hesitate to say that, in no part of the sex- 
ual organs is disease so much to be dread- 
ed as in these, and none so difficult to 
trace to their primary cause, or causing so 
much trial to the patience of the practi- 
tioner. Happening, as a swelled testicle 
not unfrequently does, a long time after 
the occurrence of the causes which have 
laid the foundations for it, both the patient 
and his physician are far from suspecting 
the true -nature of the evil, and led to adopt 
a palliative, when radical treatment alone 
should be resorted to. There is a medical 
term familiar to physicians, known as Me- 
tastasis, derived from a Greek word, sig- 
nifying to " transpose," and used by them 
when speaking of the translation, or shift- 
ing of a disease from one part of the body 
to another, or to some internal organ, and 
in no branch of medical science is it so 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 181 

often to be considered and kept in mind 
as in the one now under consideration. 
No part of our structure, or organism, is 
so intimately blended with, and for its 
healthy action so dependant upon, or ready 
to sympathize with all the others as the 
testicles ; a blow upon the head, or spine, 
a sprain, or shock arising from a fall, undue 
excitement from any cause, a suppression 
of a customary discharge, irritation of the 
bladder or kidneys, inflammation of the 
urethra, either from gonorrhoea or gleet, 
or stricture, and a thousand other causes 
only to be ascertained by the skilful, prac- 
tical physician, who knows how, by a tho- 
rough sifting of his patient's past expe- 
rience, to find out when, and how the 
seeds were planted for the outgrowth he 
is called upon to remove. When it is re- 
membered that, to the testicular troubles 
to which I have already particularly allud- 
ed, there are many others of far greater 



182 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

gravity, concerning which I have made no 
mention, simply because they are of a 
character which the unprofessional reader 
would not be able to comprehend, or profit 
by, it will be readily understood why, in all 
such cases, 1 strongly advise that the best 
and most reliable medical advice should be 
at once applied for. I cannot forbear, as 
confirmatory of what I have stated, a ref- 
erence to some historical facts, familiar to 
every medical student. Hildanus, a Latin 
author and distinguished surgeon of for- 
mer times, relates the case of a man accus- 
ed of impotency by his wife, who sued 
for a divorce. Nothing external was defec- 
tive ; but the man stated that eight years 
previously he had received a blow on the 
head with a stick. From that period, 
" confitebator penem eregi non posse," 
says the narrator, (an erection of the penis 
was not possible). Many years ago, on 
the first introduction of railroads into this 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 183 

country, a gentleman (Mr. B) aged forty- 
five, being a passenger on the railway 
between Boston and Providence (in 1839) 
apprehending some accident, thrust his 
head out of the window at the moment that 
the train came in collision with another 
running in an opposite direction with great 
violence, most of the passengers were 
thrown out and greatly injured. Mr. B's 
head and neck struck against the edge of 
the window-frame with great force, and he 
himself was thrown to the ground, where 
he remained, for a long time, in a state of 
insensibility. As soon as he regained 
his senses, he was conveyed to his home 
in a carriage. The doctor, on visiting him, 
found him suffering with great pain in the 
back part of the head and upper part of 
the neck; but there was no appearances 
of injury of the skull or spine. On the 
second day afterwards he complained of 
a numbness in his right arm, and experi- 



184 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

enced difficulty in passing his urine. In 
the course of a couple of weeks he was 
able to leave his bed and walk in the 
street, but his eyesight was defective. 
Between the fourth and fifth weekjafter 
his injury, he made the discovery that he 
had lost the desire and physical power for 
sexual intercourse, and that no amorous 
sentiment, or the approach of a female, 
could excite it. Under proper treatment the 
bladder gradually recovered its power, and 
his eyesight was restored, but his generative 
functions ever afterwards remained im- 
paired. — American Journal of Medical 
Science, February, 1839. 

In another case narrated by Dr. Smith, in 
the Lancet for August 28th, 1841, we are 
told of a gentleman who, being engaged in 
a quarrel, received a blow on the face 
which stunned him, and falling backwards 
he struck the ground on the back of his 
head, and sustained, in consequence, a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 185 

concussion of the brain, producing insen- 
sibility and unconsciousness for eight or 
ten hours. In the course of a week gen- 
eral emaciation and failure of the sexual 
function were manifested, which required 
the most careful and skilful treatment to 
overcome. 

I do not believe, however, that in any 
case a person need despair of recovery, 
if proper measures of restoration are re- 
sorted to. Modern science has opened 
new resources, of which the old school 
physicians had no conception, and diseases, 
especially of the reproductive organs, 
which, no longer ago than in the days of 
Sir Ashley Cgoper, were supposed incura- 
ble, are now treated with entire confidence 
and success ; so that it is somewhat amus- 
ing, as we turn back to the pages of the 
old writers on these subjects, and find such 
language as the following, in relation to 
the condition of those supposed to be for- 



186 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ever incapacitated for the enjoyment of 
sexual pleasures, in consequence of those 
diseases which we have been considering. 
One writer says, " To such persons a 
Venus might display her charms, and on 
such her son (Cupid) might exhaust his 
quiver in vain. No genial spring is here, 
no blooming summer, or fruitful autumn ; 
but all is winter — a dreary, desolate and 
barren winter — in which the springs of 
life are frozen up, and the animal propen- 
sities destroyed. 77 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 187 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE range of topics to which, in the 
onset, I had limited myself in the first 
part of this treatise, has now been gone 
through with. The reader will perceive 
that it has been chiefly devoted to the dis- 
cussion and investigation of those diseases 
and complaints usually denominated as 
sexual and private, and although I have 
incidentally alluded to others, yet I have 
only done so when either necessary to 
illustrate a point, or as a result of pre- 
existing genital disease. The very nature 
of the subjects treated in so small a com- 
pass, preclude the idea of a perfect work, 
yet I have seized upon such subjects as in 
my long experience I have found ever to 
be the object of most earnest inquiry 



188 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

amongst my patients, and have endeav- 
ored to explain to them, many things, 
concerning which I know that, the 
multitude are surprizingly ignorant. In 
everything I have chiefly aimed to be use- 
ful. That I have not gone more exten- 
sively into detail, is not that I had anything 
to conceal, but because, as must be apparent 
to every reader, it would be literally impos- 
sible to crowd into a few hundred pages 
any just idea of an important branch of 
medical science which thousands of vol- 
umes are not sufficient fully to illustrate. 
As has been frequently stated in the fore- 
going pages, my book is neither planned 
or written for professional instruction or 
criticism, yet I apprehend that, by none 
will it be more eagerly sought after, or 
more carefully and beneficially read than 
by physicians themselves. As in every 
attempt made by an independent practi- 
tioner to break away from the close corpo- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 189 

tion system of a class, and to do all the 
good he can, without reckoning either 
upon the profits, or the professional pro- 
priety of so doing, I expect to be sharply 
criticised by them, and am not unlikely to 
be denounced as a renegade to professional 
fealty. Yet it matters very little to me. 
My life has ever been one of competition, 
and I enjoy it. To its invigorating and 
sharpening qualities I owe no little of the 
success I have met with in my practice, 
and the perseverance which has thus far 
crowned my efforts to distinguish myself, 
as a safe and reliable medical counsellor 
and practitioner. 

In the preceding pages the reader will 
see with what propriety I claim prece- 
dence as an adept in all that pertains to a 
practical, as well as theoretical knowledge 
of my profession, and however unscien- 
tifically, or wide from established rules, I 
may have presented the results of my 



190 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

experience, 1 have, nevertheless, most 
generally u gone straight to the mark," 
and thus, better succeeded, I trust, in sat- 
isfying the inquirer. 

It may not be agreeable to many who 
will read this book that I have not entered 
more particularly into subjects deemed 
enticing, or "bewitching" to young and 
ardent minds, who think to find in books of 
this class something to stimulate their pas- 
sions, and supply food for the gratification of 
those baser appetites, which I am sorry to 
say, too many possess. But such unprin- 
cipled devices are only resorted to by the 
debased and ignorant, and 1 leave them to 
those who do not hesitate to call them to 
their aid. Men there are who do not stick 
at claiming acquaintance and fellowship 
with distinguished savans whom they 
never saw ; or as possessing titles never 
bestowed upon them ; or of occupying 
positions never open to them, may hire 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 191 

writers for such purposes ; arid, incapable 
of appreciating anything beyond just what 
will "pay" for the moment, risk incurring 
a life-time of contempt that they may luxu- 
riate in present gain. But so do not I. 
Whatever hope I may entertain that my 
labors will be properly appreciated, or that 
in this endeavor to enlarge the bounds of 
science, and to benefit mankind, I may 
not go altogether unrewarded, even in a 
pecuniary point of view, 1 shall ever have 
this satisfaction, that in no part of my work 
have I sought to elevate myself at the 
expense of truth ; nor to defame others, 
that 1 might appear in brighter colors. 

Before I conclude this division of The 
Medical Adviser, the reader will suffer 
me again to call his attention to himself, in 
his possible relation to his professional 
friend, whom he may have occasion to con- 
sult, or of whose practical skill he may 
wish to avail himself. 



192 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

He will have seen, if he possesses a 
particle of common sense, how inadequate 
any prescriptions would be, laid indiscrimi- 
nately before him, to assist him in combat- 
ting the " foul fiend ?? with which he has to 
deal. Aside from his troubles, solitary and 
venerial excesses may have been engen- 
dered and stimulated by other causes, 
which the practiced eye and matured ex- 
perience of the specialist, in this depart- 
ment of medical science, can only detect. 
Organic lesions, a morbid sensitiveness of 
the parts, arising from urethral diseases, 
such as strictures, granular or fungoid 
vegetations, or even animalcula, which can 
only be detected by microscopic examina- 
tion, may indicate both surgical, as well as 
medical applications to effect a cure. Such 
being the case, applicants for relief 
should well remember the importance of 
personal consultation, in order to obtain 
the full benefit of the surgeon's skill, and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 193 

how much it is they ask of him, when in a 
careless composed letter, omitting almost 
every detail, they ask of him " how much 
he will charge them to cure," and "how 
long it will take." And here I am led to 
observe, how difficult it is to contend 
against the prevalent vulgar idea, that the 
greater the quantity of medicine adminis- 
tered, the more likely of quick relief. 
The inordinate passion for drugging is 
characteristic of anything but a correct 
idea of the proper uses of medicine, and 
made to subserve the purposes of the mpst 
venal and unprincipled of those whose only 
aim is money, in the exercise of a profes- 
sion which they disgrace. How many 
bottles of colored water, or powders of 
magnesia are directed to be taken " ut 
fecisse aliquid videamur," that something 
may be done which shall be seen, in order 
to satisfy this appetite for drugs, which 
seems to possess so many. People hardly 



194 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

reflect that in the critical and careful in- 
vestigation of a disease, and forming a 
proper estimate of its causes, and the 
proper means of arresting its further prog- 
ress ;. the rallying powers of nature are 
weighed with almost countless circumstan- 
ces, go to make up the physician's pre- 
scription, and that he who succeeds with 
the least resort to exterior aid, is incom- 
parably more skilful than him, who, hap- 
hazard, begins to stuff his patient with the 
nauseating and vile compounds which, for 
the most part, compose our materia medica. 
Influenced by these views, I have latterly 
directed my researches towards a reduc- 
tion to the least available quantity of such 
drugs, etc., as I find it necessary to admin- 
ister, and those put up in that form in 
which their active qualities are concen- 
trated to the smallest possible space, and I 
have hopes, that ere long I shall be ena- 
bled to send through the mails, in the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 195 

smallest sized pill-box, medicines more effi- 
cacious, and less repulsive than in the form 
hitherto administered ; which shall be cer- 
tain and reliable in all those cases in which 
my prescriptions are sought for. 

I have but a word or two more to add. 
My education, researches and investiga- 
tions into these subjects have cost me 
much valuable time and money. In order 
to satisfy the large demands of thought 
and reflection called for by my extensive 
correspondence, I must necessarily confide 
to assistants some portion of the manual 
labor incident to my business. All this 
costs money. Therefore correspondents 
and others should remember that, as my 
time is valuable, it is but just that those 
who ask me to appropriate it to their ben- 
efit, should render me a fair remuneration 
for doing so. Letters therefore should al- 
ways contain a liberal consultation fee, in 
order to insure prompt and full answers 



196 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

N. B. I deem it proper to warn the 
reader, and such as may desire to call upon 
me, at my office and place of business, that 
The Morrill Medical Institute is at No. 
3 Bulfinch Street, a few doors out of 
Bowdoin Square, and directly opposite the 
east front of the Revere House. I am thus 
particular in describing the location, as 
patients from the country desiring to call 
at the Institute, having come to the city 
for that very purpose, have frequently 
been inveighled into other establishments 
in the vicinity, of doubtful reputation either 
for skill or honesty, and have been treated 
there under the impression and assurance 
that they were receiving the attention of 
Doctor Morrill ! ! 

BE CAREFUL THEN TO REMEMBER 

that Dr. Morrill's place is at No. 3 Bulfinch 
Street, and don't be deceived by any rep- 
resentations whatever, but, as the late 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 197 

Davy Crockett would say, " Be sure you 
are right and then go ahead. 77 



It may be indicative of almost a nervous cautious- 
ness that I lay such stress upon the great importance 
of patients making sure that they are not the subjects 
of gross imposition. There are many doctors, or those 
who hold themselves out as such, who daily resort to 
the most desperate and villainous modes of " roping 
in " and securing the cases of such unfortunates as 
may come to the city for medical treatment. Men are 
stationed at the various railway depots, and hack- 
drivers are bribed to conduct to the offices of these 
imposters, those who may inquire where such a 
doctor is to be found ; when they are at once inform- 
ed that they will be taken directly to the place. The 
driver, already bribed, has his cue, and deposits them 
at the door of the quack, who, on being enquired of, 
if he is Dr. M., or Dr. D., etc., is at once told that 
such is his name, and that he is the man they wish to 
see. Scores of cases of this kind has happened within 
my own knowledge, where patients from the country, 
who visited the city expressly to see me, have been 
driven to other places, and there been assured that 
they were in my office — that they were in business con- 
nection with me; that it was all the same, etc. In 
many cases they have been told that I had left the 
city, — had given up practice, etc. In fact no means 
are left untried to swindle and impose upon the too 
confiding and unwary. 



198 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 



CHAPTER IX. 
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL. 

IN taking charge of The Morrill Medi- 
ical Institute, Doctor Morrill would 
avail himself of the opportunity afforded 
by the publication of this new and enlarged 
edition of The Medical Adviser to express 
his sincere gratitude and thanks to a large 
circle of personal friends and patrons, as 
also to a liberal and discerning public, for 
the encouragement, confidence, and exten- 
sive patronage hitherto bestowed upon 
him, and reaching now nearly a period of 
thirty-three years, during which time he 
has resided and practised his profession in 
this city. Coming here almost the third 
of a century ago, an entire stranger, young 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 199 

in years, with but the slight experience of 
a few months of country practice, and pro- 
foundly ignorant of the wiles, competitions 
and struggles of a city life, he has, through 
the encouragement which an earnest en- 
deavor to attain success has inspired, been 
fortunate in securing the patronage of 
thousands of intelligent men and women, 
whose confidence and good opinion could 
only be attained by some degree of merit ; 
and has been enabled to acquire a perma- 
nence, position and professional standing 
of which he may well be proud, and which 
should satisfy any reasonable ambition. 
In the course of this long period of time he 
has witnessed the debut, progress, and 
alas, also the decline and obscuration of 
an almost countless multitude of Doctors, 
Specialists, and " Professors " of the heaL 
ins: art, who have swarmed around him, 
and sought to tide themselves over the 
rough channels of a metropolitan struggle 



200 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

for prominence and success, and watching 
them from the prologue to the epilogue of 
their brief play, he has often been led to 
thank God that He had endowed him with 
a persistency, fortitude and ability which 
has enabled him to surmount difficulties 
and opposition which had crippled and dis- 
heartened so many. To day, as in the 
past, there are those who would captivate 
the public by grand pretensions of great 
attainments, lofty titles, and conferred dig- 
nities ; w r ho claim to have exercised their 
skill in hospitals, and upon the tented 
field, and as authors excited wonderment 
and admiration at home and abroad ; thus 
throwing out their baits to catch the cred- 
ulous and allure the unwary. But I have 
learned to estimate such persons at pretty 
near their true value ; and that the non- 
combative system, if strictly adhered to, 
would in a short time, rid me of all such 
opposition. If not outspoken, my course 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 201 

has resolved itself into that inspired by- 
Uncle Toby's treatment of the fly which 
buzzed about his ears, " G-o poor insect, 
I will not kill thee ; the world has room 
enough for thee and me. 77 In this frame 
of mind I have resisted the many tempta- 
tions to a retirement from the arduous 
duties of a somewhat exacting profession, 
to the quiet enjoyment of the fruits of my 
long and eminently successful career as a 
medical practitioner. The constantly grow- 
ing necessity in this city for some institu- 
tion which would operate as a barrier to 
the daily frauds, deceptions, impositions, 
and extortions practised upon hundreds of 
unsophisticated and artless victims of city 
temptations having led to the establish- 
ment of The Morrill Medical Institute, 
I have been induced to embark in the en- 
terprise, and give to it my hearty sympa- 
thy and co-operation. Placed at the head 
of it by the very flattering partiality of 



202 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

its projectors and founders, I find myself 
almost unexpectedly in a position where 
my large experience, and habits of careful 
study and investigation, will find ample 
scope for exercise as well as display. 

In the prime of life, and in the enjoy- 
ment of unimpaired vigor of both body 
and mind, I enter upon the work assigned 
me, with all the eagerness and ardor of 
confident ability to discharge every duty 
incumbent upon me with success and 
credit to myself, and to the entire satisfac- 
tion of my friends and patrons, amongst 
whom I am happy to say that, those of the 
female sex have constituted a very large 
and interesting proportion. Very early in 
my practice, the circumstance of being 
located in a section of country w T here I had 
but few professional rivals, and constantly 
called upon to attend to all the various 
cases always arising in a country neigh- 
borhood, I felt an ambition to excel, par- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 203 

ticuiarly in cases where the ladies were to 
become the objects of my solicitude and 
care. 

In all female complaints, arising from any 
obstruction to the free operations of nature's 
laws, my remedies are infallible ; whilst in 
cases where nature must be restrained, for 
reasons of health, propriety, or expediency 
even, if consulted in season, my remedies 
are equally efficacious and certain. In a 
book designed as this is for general circu- 
lation, topics of this character can only be 
alluded to superficially, and in suppressed 
tones, lest the delicate sensibilities of some, 
whose good opinion I would conciliate, 
might be too rudely jarred. Hence I can 
only say to them, as to all others, that you 
will at all times find me a patient listener 
to your complaints and troubles, and may 
safely rely upon my care, discretion and 
skill in ministering to your necessities, 
even if arising through a faulty training, 



201 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

misplaced confidence or unguarded inter- 
course, or any other cause which may re- 
quire the aid of medical advice and assis- 
tance. 

In the preceding pages I have, as the 
reader will have seen, very thoroughly 
considered every subject relating to sexual, 
syphilitic, and private diseases pertaining 
to man, so far as to enable him safely to 
hold them in abeyance, at least until he can 
have an opportunity to obtain reliable 
medical assistance. Beyond this it is not 
my intention, nor is it necessary that I 
should go. It would swell this volume to 
a greater size than convenient for the uses 
for which it was designed, were I tempted 
to discuss, even to a limited degree, all 
the topics suggested by its title, and aris- 
ing out of so vast and complicated a branch 
of medical science as the one which we 
have been considering. I therefore hasten 
to a conclusion of this branch of my treatise. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 205 



CHAPTER X. 
SYMPTOMATOLOGY. 

IN order to enable those who may be so 
unfortunate as to be afflicted with any 
of the diseases alluded to in this book, or 
any kindred complaints, arising from he- 
reditary taint, an impure state of the blood, 
imperfectly treated scrofulous or syphilitic 
diseases, I have thought I could do no 
better service to my readers than to fur- 
nish them with a brief index of such dis- 
eases, with a clear and comprehensive 
enumeration of symptoms usually attend- 
ing them, so that they may be enabled, of 
themselves, to judge somewhat of the 
nature and gravity of the trouble which 
assails them. The diseases herein enumer- 
ated, are all such as I have made a special 
study, and I flatter myself that the numer- 



206 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ous cases with which I have had to deal, 
and the eminent success I have met with 
in their treatment and cure, will give con- 
fidence that my claims of superiority in 
their proper management, are not without 
some show of substantial merit and ability. 

Acne. A chronic tubercular affection 
of the skin, characterized by small, iso- 
lated pustules, with deep red bases. These' 
pustules, after suppurating and bursting, 
leave behind them very small hard red 
tumors, very painful, and apt to mark the 
skin. In young people Acne appears about 
the age of puberty upon the forehead or 
sides of the cheek, and are very protracted 
and annoying with elderly people ; it fre- 
quently attacks the nose, giving it a red 
appearance. 

Amnesia. Forgetfulness, or loss of 
memory, a prominent symptom in certain 
cerebral diseases resulting from mastur- 
bation, etc. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 207 

Angina Pectoris. This term, signifying 
to strangle, is applied to a disease in which 
severe pain is felt about the chest, with a 
sense of strangulation ; and great anxiety ; 
occurs most frequently in advanced life, 
but may come on at any time ; if the 
patient be walking he is obliged to stop 
immediately. During attack, pulse slow 
and feeble ; breathing short and hurried ; 
countenance pale and anxious ; surface of 
body cold, perhaps covered with clammy 
sweat, etc. This is a very dangerous 
disease. 

Balanitis. Inflammation of the glans 
penis, or external clap. This disease is 
indicated by soreness, with redness and 
excoriation of the glans and internal sur- 
face of the prepuce, with heat and itching 
of the parts. On exposing the glans, by 
drawing back the skin, patches of redness 
and excoriation are seen, with perhaps 
flakes of curdlike matter, from which may 



208 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

be inferred danger of chancre, abscess, 
sympathetic bubo, or threatened mortifica- 
tion. Pimosis, or parapimosis is extremely 
imminent. No time should be lost in 
applying for medical treatment. 

Bronchitis. Inflammation of mucous 
membrane of bronchial tubes. It may be 
acute or chronic ; affects one or both lungs. 
The symptoms are, fever, a sense of tight- 
ness about the chest, hurried breathing, 
with wheezing cough, spitting of viscid, 
glairy mucous, and afterwards of purulent 
secretion, frequent and weak pulse, foul 
tongue, headache and lassitude, great anx- 
iety, etc. There are several varieties of 
this disease, all of which are very much 
aggravated by syphilitic taint, if the patient 
has ever been exposed. 

Bubo. A tumor of the glands of the 
groin, and may arise from balanitis, gon- 
orrhoea, excessive venery, etc., or may be 
the direct result of the absorption of virus 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 209 

from venerial sores, chancre, etc. It is as 
often a precurser of syphilitic attack, as 
otherwise. Prompt treatment should be 
resorted to. 

Carbuncle. Name derived from a Latin 
word, signifying " a live coal, " consists 
of severe inflammation of a certain 
portion of the skin, and surround- 
ing parts impregnated with unhealthy 
matter. It first appears as a flattened cir- 
cular swelling, with throbbing, or dull, 
aching pain, suppuration, bloody, purulent 
discharge, sloughing of the areolar tissue, 
vitiated state of the blood, constitutional 
disturbance, prostration, etc., etc. The 
same remedies indicated as in syphilis. 

Catarrh. From a Greek word, meaning 
to flow down little by little. It is an in- 
flammation of the mucous membrane of 
some portion of air passages of the nose 
and throat, and is one of the commonest 
diseases in our climate. Its symptoms are 



210 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

lassitude, pains in limbs, aching of back, 
sense of tightness across forehead, exces- 
sive discharge from nostrils, profuse invol- 
untary tears, hoarseness, sore throat, fur- 
red tongue, more or less feverishness, 
thirst, loss of appetite, quick pulse, etc., 
sometimes a severe eruption of pimples 
upon the lips, most frequently about the 
corners of the mouth, or middle of lower 
lip. A very troublesome, painful, and 
sometimes dangerous complaint, superin- 
ducing pneumonia, and other chest dis- 
eases. The very first symptoms should be 
promptly attended to. Neglected, they 
assume a gravity and difficulty of treat- 
ment, rendering cure protracted, if not 
uncertain. 

Concussion of Brain. Name derived 
from the Latin Conditio, to shake. An 
affection very often resulting from the 
severe nervous shocks occasioned by fre- 
quent and persistent self-abuse. Signa- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 211 

lized by fainting, sickness, stupor, insensi- 
bility, and loss of all muscular power. The 
patient may rally quickly, or not, for many 
hours, or he may die suddenly. The symp- 
toms vary according to degree of concus- 
sion. When the shock is slight, the state 
of unconsciousness soon recovered from, 
complaint only made of confusion of ideas, 
faintness, sickness, chilliness, drowsiness, 
ringing noises in the ears. In more severe 
forms, insensibility continues longer. Pa- 
tient lies as if in deep sleep; pupils insen- 
sible to stimulus of light; surface pale and 
cold ; muscles flaccid ; pulse fluttering, or 
feeble ; breathing often scarcely percepti- 
ble. Instant resort to friction up and down 
the spine should be resorted to by the 
attendants, and physician immediately 
summoned. 

Concussion of Spinal Cord, is also a 
result of the constant agitation and weak- 
ening of the system by excessive mastur- 



212 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

bation. The first symptoms usually are a 
peculiar tingling, as though from the prick- 
ing of pins and needles, in the extremities ; 
extreme weakness; difficulty in passing 
urine ; coldness and numbness of the legs ; 
difficulty in walking, etc. The cases be- 
come very serious from neglect. 

Conjunctivitis. A term synonymous 
with Opthalmia, a disease of the eyes, 
very frequently a sequella of gonorrhoea, 
hence one form of the disease is termed 
Gonorrhoeal Opthalmia. The symptoms 
are, inflammation very severe, attended 
with violent pain, and leads to formation 
of large quantities of thick and yellow 
purulent matter. Eyelids swell very much 
and separation of them difficult, the dis- 
charge adhering to the eyelashes in thick 
drops. Severe pain in the eye and fore- 
head, much constitutional disturbance, 
with fever and prostration. Where this 
disease does not readily yield to cooling 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 213 

applications and astringent lotions, inflam- 
mation is apt to continue ; increasing it at- 
tacks the cornea and internal textures of the 
eye; extensive sloughing takes place ; and 
when sufferings terminate, it is found that 
sight is completely lost. It is contagious, 
and both eyes often affected. Anti-syphi- 
lic treatment should at once be resorted to. 
Medical advice the only reliable course to 
be adopted. 

Convulsions, are often due to renal dis- 
ease and albuminaria. The symptoms and 
appearances are too well known to require 
particular description. During a general 
paroxysm there is distortion of features, 
pallor, or lividity of face, staring eyeballs, 
grinding and gnashing of teeth, protusion 
of tongue, etc. Involuntary evacuations, 
laborious breathing. There will be only 
one attack, or several, followed by a ten- 
dency to sleep. 

Corneitis, Name derived from the Latia 



214 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Comic, a horn. A peculiar affection of 
the eye. There are several varieties, 
amongst them is Syphilitic Keratitis ; the 
result of inherited constitutional syphilis, 
and often affects young children. Its indi- 
cations are, a diffused haziness, beginning 
at centre of one cornea ; tissue gets to 
resemble ground glass. No tendency to 
ulceration ; after a few weeks both cornea 
become affected. Subjects of this disease 
acquire a coarse and flabby skin, pits and 
scars on face and forehead, scars of old 
cracks at the corners of the mouth, and 
the bridge of the nose gradually sinks 
down. It is altogether a very disagreea- 
ble disease, greatly to be feared from the 
marks it leaves upon its victims, will not 
admit of being tampered with, nor be 
cured by quack remedies. Not one doctor 
in a hundred can do anything for it. The 
skilful specialist only knows how to treat 
it. I have a perfect remedy. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 215 

Diabetes Mellitus. From Greek words, 
signifying to move through honey. A 
species of saccharine diabetes, character- 
ized by secretion of a large quantity of 
urine, containing glucose, or grape sugar. 
It comes on very insiduously, with a sense 
of uneasiness and feverishness. Large 
quantities of urine are passed, having an 
apple-like odor. Constipation ; hard, dry 
excretions ; constant thirst ; failure of gen- 
eral health; muscular weakness, and loss 
of sexual power. Mental depression and 
irritability ; constant sense of sinking at 
the stomach, with occasional voracious 
appetite ; tendency to boils. This disease 
often becomes associated with consump- 
tion after a time, and death, unless relief 
is obtained, almost sure to ensue. In its 
first stages, it is entirely manageable, but 
treatment deferred, renders cure difficult 
and protracted. 

Diuresis. Signifying to pass urine. A 



216 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

condition in which an excessive quantity 
of pale, limpid urine is secreted, from 
sugar, or other foreign ingredient. The 
symptoms are excessive thirst, with excre- 
tion of large quantities of urine. The 
general health suffers, and frequent desire 
to pass water, cause bad and restless nights. 
Dropsy frequently sets in. 

Enuresis. To urine in bed needs no 
further explanation, and is easily cured, 
but the habit becomes inveterate, and a 
source of much mortification and trouble 
if neglected by parents, and those having 
the care of children. 

Hcematuria. Bloody urine. Hemorr- 
hage from the mucous membrane of the 
urinary passages, the kidneys, bladder, or 
urethra. The symptoms are, the urine of 
a smoky, or black hue, or of a port-wine 
tint, albumen present. When the kidneys 
are affected; the blood is equally diffused 
through the urine. When the disease is 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 217 

of the bladder, or urethra, the blood comes 
away after passing clear urine. Indicative 
of blood-casts of renal tubes, cancer-cells, 
or renal calculi. A very dangerous dis- 
ease. 

Hemorrhoids, or Piles. There are two 
kinds, External and Internal. In the first, 
they consist of a knot of varicose veins, or 
of one or more cutaneous excrescences. 
The veins may contain fluid blood ; more 
frequently their contents have coagulated, 
forming one or several hard and purple 
swellings. When indolent they are chiefly 
troublesome from their bulk. If they be- 
come congested, or inflamed, great pain 
arises, with heat and throbbing ; a sense of 
bearing down, backache, irritability of the 
bladder, and perhaps retention of the urine. 
Very troublesome and annoying. In case 
of Internal Piles, they protrude during 
stools at first, in consequence of the fre- 
quent attacks of bleeding and other causes 



218 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

they are constantly down, save when the 
patient is in a recumbent posture ; uneasi- 
ness about the rectum ; loss of flesh ; sal- 
lowness of complexion ; deficiency of blood ; 
general derangement of functions of the 
liver, stomach, bowels, etc. By long neg- 
lect and inattention, piles very often be- 
come so seated, and difficult of cure, that 
the most intricate surgical operations are 
sometimes rendered absolutely necessary. 
I have given great attention to the treat- 
ment of this troublesome complaint, and 
have discovered remedies which I consider 
almost infallible. I have rarely met with 
a case that I could not cure in a short 
time. 

Hydrocele and Hcematocele. The 
first is an accumulation of serum, either 
in the sack covering the testicles, called 
the Tunica Vaginalis, or in the cord. 
Hcematocele is an extravasation of blood 
into the tunica vaginalis. Hydrocele may 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 219 

result from injuries, testitis, and many 
other causes. The symptoms are, a grad- 
ual swelling and distension of the scrotum, 
until it is of a smooth and pear-shaped form. 
The testicle may be felt near the lower 
and back part ; the spermatic cord can 
easily be felt at the neck of the tumor, 
The fluid consists of pale, yellowish serum 
average quantity ten or twelve ounces, 
In Hydrocele of the cord, the serum accu- 
mulates in the areola tissue of the cord 
In some cases the fluid is formed in a dis- 
tinct cyst or sack. The treatment of these 
painful diseases of the scrotum has hitherto 
consisted chiefly in drawing off the fluid 
by a trocar, puncturing, or the application 
of counter irritants, etc. These remedies, 
such as they are, are merely palliative, 
giving only temporary relief. My method 
of treatment is altogether different, and 
more rational. I neither tap, nor inflict 
unnecessary pain, by blistering or irritat- 



220 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ing applications, but by a process of ab- 
sorption, the means of which were discov- 
ered by myself, lam enabled to scatter the 
secretion of serum, and to reduce the 
swelling in a very short time. In cases of 
Hoematocele, or blood tumor, there is some 
danger that the distension may be to that 
extent as to compress the testicle so as to 
induce atrophy. Besides the inconvenience 
and suffering, this disease has a very de- 
pressing influence upon the mind, leading 
to despondency, low spirits, apprehensions 
of evil, etc. Its proper treatment should, 
on no account, be neglected for a single 
day. 

Hydronephrosis. Dropsy of the kid- 
ney. May arise from obstruction of the 
ureter, or membranous tube through which 
the urine is conveyed from the kidneys to 
the bladder. These obstructions may re- 
sult from calculi, tubercular, or malignant 
deposits, pressure of tumors, etc. Kidneys 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 221 

become ultimately converted into large 
pouches. The symptoms are generally 
very obscure. Tumors in the loins, reach- 
ing forward in the abdomen, tender to the 
touch, with a rolling, undulating feeling, 
are one of the indications of this disease. 
The urine, though often natural in quan- 
tity, often contains pus. There are some- 
times frequent attacks of colic, especially 
where there is calculus. Complete rest 
should be enjoined upon the patient, with 
warm diluent drinks to prevent concentra- 
tion of urine, and medical assistance at 
once called in. 1 have very frequently 
been called upon to attend upon cases of 
this kind, and have generally succeeded in 
affording relief in a very short time. None 
but a practical experienced diagnostician 
who understands these cases more from 
frequent dealing with them, than from 
merely reading about them, should be 
trusted to prescribe for them. In the 



222 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

treatment of such cases, it is literally true 
that " jDractice makes perfect/ 7 

Impotence and Sterility. The term 
" Impotence " simply means that condition 
of the male which may prevent the semi- 
nal fluid coming in contact with, or impos- 
sible to impregnate the female ovule. On 
the other hand " Sterility " is that condi- 
tion in which no spermatozoa is secreted 
in the male, nor ovules in the female, or 
which in either case their vitality is imme- 
diately destroyed. 

These subjects have been freely discuss- 
ed in the main body of this work, and I 
only allude to them here in order to recall 
the attention of the reader to them, and to 
assure them that, in most cases where they 
occur, they are generally curable ; more 
so, in fact, than many other obstructions 
and derangements of the generative organs, 
apparently of less importance. My reme- 
dies and mode of treatment in all such 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 223 

cases, are at once simple, reliable, safe, and 
prompt in their action. For numerous tes- 
timonials of the efficacy and success I have 
met with in the treatment of barrenness, 
impotency, exhausted vitality, etc., I invite 
the interested to call and see me. The 
most sceptical will not fail to be convinced 
that it is worth while, at least, to give a 
fair trial to the remedies I can offer them. 
Insanity. Mental alienation ; deranged 
intellect ; madness ; synonymous terms 
used to express the mental condition op- 
posed to sanity; sanity being that state of 
the mind which enables a man to discharge 
his duties to God, his neighbor and him- 
self. Indications of impending cerebral 
mischief are often to be detected by phy- 
sycians long before they attract the notice 
of the patient or his friends, are not devel- 
oped suddenly ; often rendered incurable 
by neglect of treatment in early stages. 
Symptoms which should excite alarm are. 



224 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

frequent and severe headache ; attacks of 
giddiness and mental confusion ; irrita- 
bility ; loss of temper without sufficient 
cause ; inaptitude for usual occupations ; 
weariness of life ; sleeplessness, or leth- 
argy ; loss of memory ; defective articula- 
tion ; dimness of sight ; sufferer feels not 
quite right, but does not like to consult a 
physician. He shuns old friends ; is tortur- 
ed with blasphemous, or obscene thoughts, 
has frightful dreams ; and frequently suf- 
fers from dyspepsia. Of all forms of insan- 
ity those complicated with general paraly- 
sis, or with epilepsy, are the most terrible. 
This disease is more frequently the result 
of long continued and persistent self-abuse, 
masturbation, etc., than from any other 
cause. It may confidently be asserted 
that fully two-thirds of the cases of mona- 
mania, dementia and idiocy are caused by 
this vice. The various forms in which 
these conditions of mental disease are man- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 225 

ifested, forms one of the most interesting 
studies of the philanthropic physician. 
In the various phases of monomania, for 
instance, we find melancholy, fear, morose- 
ness, despondency, etc., autophamania, or 
a desire to commit suicide ; androphoma- 
nia, where there is an uncontrollable ten- 
dency to commit murder ; pyromania ; 
where there is an irresistible propensity 
to set fire to buildings ; kleptomania ; or 
a desire to steal. In erotomonia, a strong 
proclivity towards women, etc. All of 
these conditions of the mind are produced 
to a greater or less degree by uterine dis- 
turbances in women, syphilitic taint, vene- 
rial excesses, masturbation and self-abuse 
in men ; and may be „cured, or essentially 
relieved by early medical and hygienic 
treatment. Moral influences are much to 
be depended upon ; but careful medical 
treatment, calculated to remove obstruc- 
tions, promote sleep, and give tone to the 



226 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

system, are of greater importance. There 
is no one method adapted to general appli- 
cation, nor are there any specifics for the 
cure of these diseases. No one but a 
thoroughly skilful physiologist, profoundly 
■ impressed with the great importance of the 
task he undertakes, and from long expe- 
rience familiar with the workings of the 
human intellect in health as in disease, 
should be entrusted with such cases. I 
am the more concerned in impressing this 
truth on the minds of my readers, from the 
fact, that latterly, the most unscrupulous 
efforts have been made to create the im- 
pression that there are certain remedies 
and methods for the treatment of insanity, 
known to but a few, and which can be ped- 
dled out, as a box of pills, or a bottle of 
stuff, to be well shaken and taken, " ad 
nauseum." In a book recently published, 
claiming to be written by a certain adver- 
tising specialist in this city, better known 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 227 

for his tortuous trading and financial oper- 
ations, than for his skill or learning as a 
physician, I find, amidst a chaos of in co- 
herencies and contradictions, a case stated 
something like this : speaking of a lady 
laboring under mental depression, melan- 
choly, etc., induced by the death of rela- 
tives, he says, " The professional assist- 
ance of Dr. Brown Sequard was sought in 
Paris, but his best endeavors were of no 
avail. On her return to America, our pro- 
fessional aid was required. The means 
were used diligently, under our direction, 
and in eleven weeks, being perfectly re- 
covered, the means were discontinued. 77 
The attempt is here made and repeated in 
other parts of the book, to create a belief 
that some new discovery in thereaputical 
science has been discovered by the author, 
or rather publisher, for the successful 
treatment of nervous and mental disorders, 
superseding all that has hitherto been done 



228 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

by such men as Rush, or Ray, and curing 
mental derangements, as one would the 
itch ; by some salve or ointment, the prep- 
aration of which he alone is the fortunate 
discoverer and proprietor, and which, for 
" a consideration " he stands ready to dole 
out in potions, as he would emetics, to his 
dupes. Thus, he says, in regard to a cer- 
tain Episcopal minister whom he met 
with (?) on his way to California, " He 
availed himself of my advice, and the ben- 
efits of our discovery " ! ! Then again he 
says, " one peculiar and most extraordi- 
nary advantageous adjunct of this discov- 
ery is, its power can be raised in propor- 
tion to the strength of the disease" etc. 
One would judge so from the fact (if it be 
a fact) stated further on, that to accom- 
plish a certain cure, the means, that is the 
stuff, or new discovery, which in ordinary 
cases are to be used in small quantities, 
three times a day, were used for many 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 229 

weeks every two hours, and in eight-fold 
larger quantities tlianusual" This learned 
Ex IT. S. A. surgeon also has a great deal 
to say about the " organ " of the brain. 
We should be glad to know what that is ; 
which organ, etc. We always supposed 
that the brain was an organ itself, or rather, 
a net-work of organs of the mind, and that 
it was through the brain, as its organ, it 
communicated with the world and external 
things ; by the hands, arms, feet, tongue, 
eyes, etc., as the " organs " of action and 
sensation. To all this mess of arrant non- 
sense and charlatinism we have added, the 
comforting assurance that " the average 
cost price of i the means ? is the only 
charge to the rich till the cure is complet- 
ed, whilst servants, mechanics, little trades- 
men (who are they?) and poor clergymen 
pay only half the cost price, and nothing 
is expected from them when cured." 
Verily the operators of gift enterprises. 



230 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and bogus lotteries, and even the Peter 
Funks of Chatham Street may take a new 
lesson in skinning the greenhorns, and 
transferring the dollars from their purses 
to themselves. I feel that some apology 
is needed for calling attention to this bare- 
faced foray into the realms of decency and 
common sense, by the getters up of this 
scheme, but knowing, as I do, i;he great 
liability of people to be seduced by such 
stuff, and the great necessity there exists 
for this exposure, I cannot refrain from 
alluding to it as I have. 

Iritis. A term derived from a Greek 
word signifying a rainbow, and applied to 
a peculiar affection of the eye, accompa- 
nied by acute inflammation. The usual 
symptoms are, in the first stage the iris 
presents a confused appearance, owing to 
its fibrous texture becoming indistinct; 
loses its contractile power, and undergoes 
a change in color. If the inflammation 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 231 

proceed, the pupil may get closed, or its 
margin become adherent to the capsule of 
the lens ; or the cornea may be rendered 
opaque. If the inflammation be not check- 
ed, it creeps on, involves the whole coat- 
ing of the retina, and spoiling the delicate 
texture of the latter, completely destroys 
the sight forever. When one eye has 
been permanently injured from any cause, 
sympathetic subacute inflammation is not 
infrequently set up in the sound organ at 
the end of some months, or even in the 
course of a few days, which may go on to 
produce complete destruction. To prevent 
this, it is often necessary to remove the 
eye which was first damaged. Among the 
chief causes of this dangerous malady, is sy- 
philis when, as a secondary effect, it causes 
syphilitic eritis,andisalso themost common. 
It may occur at all ages. It is usually at- 
tended with other effects of constitutional 
syphilis, such as copper-colored eruptions, 



232 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

nodes, pains in the bones, especially severe 
at night, and ulceration of throat. The 
treatment of this disease was formerly by 
bleeding and belladona ; but that method 
has given way to the more enlightened 
one of sustaining the general health by 
generous diet, and relieving pain with 
narcotics. The patient should be kept 
quiet, and every effort made to arrest effu- 
sion of fibrine, and to procure absorption 
of that poured out. Professed occulists 
merely are incompetent to treat this disease. 
It having its origin in syphilis, none but 
those who understand that disease, can so 
successfully undertake its cure. 

Lepra. Signifying a scaly state of the 
skin. Is the most obstinate and trouble- 
some of all curable cutaneous diseases 
resulting from syphilis, in which case it is 
known as syphilitic lepra. It consists of 
red and scaly circular patches, of various 
dimensions, scattered over different parts 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 233 

of the body. Most frequently found in the 
neighborhood of the joints, especially near 
the knee and elbow. By degrees, patches 
increase in size and number, and extend 
along the extremities to trunk. In these 
cases the patient should suspect the nature 
of his trouble, if at any former period of his 
life he has been the subject of a syphilitic 
attack. 

The usual anti-scrofulous remedies, such 
as would be prescribed by ordinary physi- 
cians, would be useless here, as such cases 
call for treatment almost identical with 
that of secondary syphilis. 

Nephritis. Inflammation of the kidney. 
The symptoms are, severe pains in loins, 
increased by pressure or exercise ; pain 
often extending along the ureter to neck 
of bladder, groin, scrotum, or testicle. 
Numbness of thigh ; retraction of testicle. 
Frequent and urgent desire to empty blad- 
der ; urine high-colored, often contains 



234 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

renal casts with blood and pus corpuscles. 
Sometimes, suppression of urine ; with 
uroemia, or bloody mixture, convulsions, 
etc. When recovery follows, a foundation 
for future renal diseases often laid. Re- 
nal abscesses may form, leading perhaps 
to ulceration and establishment of a puru- 
lent discharge, obstructive diseases of 
urinary passages, etc. This disease, re- 
sulting as it does from syphilis, is not gen- 
erally understood by the profession ; but 
the specialist detects it at once, and knows 
how to grapple with it successfully. No 
time should be lost in attending to the yevy 
earliest symptoms of this disease, as, if 
neglected, fatal results are almost sure to 
follow. 

Paraphimosis is that condition in which 
a tight prepuce, or foreskin having been 
drawn back over the glans penis, the latter 
becomes constricted and swollen, so that 
the prepuce cannot be replaced. The 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 235 

symptoms are, great swelling behind the 
constriction ; mucous membrane of with- 
drawn prepuce forms a thick and hard 
girdle around and just back of the head of 
the penis ; congestion of glans ; great pain, 
anxiety, etc. The first efforts should be 
to attempt a reduction by well oiling the 
parts, and compressing the glans so that 
they may be gently pushed backward with 
the right hand, whilst the prepuce is to be 
steadily drawn forward with the left. To 
reduce inflammation, applications of ice, 
cold water, etc., are sometimes useful ; a per- 
manent cure can only be effected by cir- 
cumcision. 

Penis Cancer generally commences as a 
warty, or cauliflower looking growth on 
the inner surface of the prepuce ; followed 
by unhealthy and very destructive ulcera- 
tion. Lymphatics on back of penis, and 
the glans in the groin gradually get invol- 
ved. Bloody discharges, retention of 



236 MEDICAL ADYISER. 

urine, a cancerous tendency generally man- 
ifested. If disease is not arrested by early 
and complete amputation, a painful death 
is sure to follow. 

Periostitis is a disease often the result 
of syphilitic taint affecting the thin, deli- 
cate membrane forming the immediate 
covering of the bones, called the perios- 
teum. It may also arise from injury, 
rheumatism, abuse of mercury, and from 
atmospheric exposure, acting upon enfee- 
bled and broken down constitutions. The 
symptoms are, pain and tenderness, thick- 
ening of the inflamed part from deposits 
of plastic matter forming a tense elongated 
swelling — a node ; much constitutional dis- 
turbance ; varying from slight impairment 
of health, to acute inflammatory fever ; 
restless nights ; great mental depression, 
e cC» 

Peritonitis. From a Greek word signi- 
fying to stretch all over. Is an inflamma- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 237 

tion of the peritoneum or membrane, in- 
vesting the entire viscera of the abdomen. 
When acute it is a very serious disease, 
accompanied with pain and swelling of the 
abdomen, and severe symptomatic fever. 
Symptoms are sometimes chilliness and 
rigors, high fever, great tenderness of 
abdomen ; increased by slightest pressure, 
and by any movement calling abdominal 
muscles into action. Patient lies on the 
back, with knees bent and drawn up, ab- 
domen tense, hot, and often hollow sound- 
ing, constipation; nausea and vomiting; 
dry burning skin ; rapid feeble pulse ; 
hurried respiration ; hiccough ; tongue 
thickly furred, countenance expressive of 
anxiety and suffering. If not relieved, 
death usually takes place from exhaustion, 
within eight or ten days from the com- 
mencement of disease. None but a tho- 
roughly experienced physician should be 
called to attend upon cases of this kind. 



238 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Pamryngitis is a syphilitic affection of 
the throat, producing ulceration of the 
velum and fauces, attended with difficulty 
in swallowing, rapidly producing exhaust- 
ion and suffocation. A dangerous disease, 
not to be trifled with. The experienced 
specialist, familiar with every indication of 
syphilitic taint, would be best able to 
judge whether anti-syphilitics are indicat- 
ed and proper. 

Priapism. Constant and distressing 
erection of the penis. May arise from 
injury or disease of the spine ; disease of 
the brain ; the rupture of some vessel, with 
extravasation of blood into corpora caver- 
nosa ; sub-acute inflammation, with effusion 
of blood into the same ; or vesicular and 
nervous excitement consequent upon ex- 
cessive venery, etc. It may be relieved 
by anodyne and narcotic remedies, but 
they should not be resorted to without 
medical advice. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 239 

Prostrate Enlargement. Excessive 
growth, thickening, or enlargement may 
result from chronic prostatis, or inflamma- 
tion of the prostrate gland, or in advanced 
life independent of any inflammatory ac- 
tion. Produces displacement, or compres- 
sion of the urethra, so that micturation is 
rendered slow and difficult. Such cases 
should only be treated by a physician. 
The unskilled patient should not meddle 
with it. Care should however be taken 
that the bladder be completely emptied, or 
chronic cystitis (inflammation of the blad- 
der) will be set up. 

Prostatitis. Inflammation of the pros- 
trate gland may occur in course of gonorr- 
hoea, from violence, use of strong injec- 
tions in urethra, exposure to wet, exces- 
sive venery, diseases of rectum, and irrita- 
tion produced by cantharides (Spanish 
flies). The symptoms are, pain and tender- 
ness between the anus and scrotum (peri- 



240 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

neum) with sense of heat. Frequent 
painful micturation, pain at stools, feeling 
of weight about perineum and rectum, 
great suffering if a catheter be passed, 
rigors, fever, difficulty of mictaration, etc., 
danger of abscess. Until medical advice 
be had, the patient should rest quietly in 
bed ; and hot hip baths, fomentations and 
poultices may be resorted to, taking only 
very simple nourishment, without any 
stimulants. In case of abscess he should 
have nourishing food, raw eggs, cream, 
essence of beef, and wine if there is much 
depression. 

Rectal Cancer are of several varieties, 
and sometimes attacks the anus, and may 
extend some distance up the rectum. The 
symptoms are often obscure and not very 
well marked at first, as there is but little 
suffering until difficulty at stool arises. 

When it is found that the disease has 
made considerable progress, and the bowels 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 241 

extensively infiltrated with cancer, pro- 
ducing considerable contraction with se- 
vere lancinating pains. Frequent attacks 
of bleeding, offensive muco-purulent dis- 
charges. Debility, ending in complete 
prostration. Loss of flesh, ulceration ex- 
tends to the bladder and urethra, if relief 
is not had, death results from exhaustion. 
Of course before any of the foregoing 
occur, the patient will have had the attend- 
ance of a physician. This is a difficult 
and dangerous malady to deal with, and 
none but a skilful and reliable physician 
should be consulted. I have had large ex- 
perience in such cases, and although in 
most cases have been obliged to resort to 
excision, yet have always been enabled to 
alleviate the condition of the patient, so as to 
render this troublesome complaint less dis- 
tressing than it would otherwise have been. 
I trust I need not caution my readers that 
in all such cases no reliance whatever is t6 



242 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

be placed in the various empyrical reme- 
dies of so called cancer doctors, etc. 

Rectal Stricture. Stricture of the 
rectum may be confined to a ring of con- 
densed tissue of the annular form; or it 
may be confined to one side of the bowel, 
as when it follows healing up of ulcers ; 
almost the whole gut may be narrowed and 
hardened. To be distinguished from con- 
striction due to cancer, or to pressure of 
tumors, etc. The symptoms are constipa- 
tion ; small stools ; great difficulty in pass- 
ing solid stools ; straining and bearing 
down efforts ; flatulence ; pains in the 
loins ; mucous discharges, sometimes stain- 
ed with blood ; depression of general 
health; low spirits. If ulceration follow, 
burning pains ; tenderness about the sa- 
crum and fundament ; discharges of blood 
and pus, etc., dilitation by bougies, the use 
of sponge tents, and other surgical opera- 
tions of a delicate nature, are often abso- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 243 

lutely necessary in reducing the disease. 
The patient can only rely upon his physi- 
cian. In the meantime he should take 
nourishing diet, avoiding all stimulants. 

Eectal Ulcers, or fissure of the anus. 
Is an apparently slight affection, but one 
which causes great suffering. No infor- 
mation about them can be given to the 
patient, by which he can be properly 
guided in self-treatment. 

Renal Cancer is the rarest form of 
kidney disease ; most common in child- 
hood and old age. When the disease is 
primary, only one gland is usually attacked ; 
if secondary, the reverse. In primary 
cancer the tumor frequently attains enor- 
mous size. The chief symptoms are en- 
largement of affected gland, escape of 
blood, pain in the loins, sickness, emacia- 
tion, dropsy, fatal exhaustion. Medical 
skill can do much to relieve the prominent 
symptoms. Great difficulty is often expe- 



244 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

rienced in passing urine which may be 
obstructed by blood clots. Self-treatment 
dangerous. 

Renal Degenerations. Here it may be 
remarked that the term Renal is applied 
only to diseases of the kidney and its ap- 
pendages, and is derived from the Latin 
word Bertj a kidney. There are three dif- 
ferent varieties of kidney disease under 
this head, namely, Fatty, Amyloid, (waxy 
or starchy) and Cystic; affecting the blad- 
der or gall. The fatty degeneration may 
be the result of a scrofulous habit, bad 
living, intemperance, exposure to wet, 
cold, etc. It is indicated by frequent de- 
sire to pass the urine, dyspepsia, with at- 
tacks of obstinate vomiting, scanty secre- 
tion of urine, highly albuminous. In the 
early stages the urine, generally free from 
sediment, but after awhile there appears a 
cloudy sediment. When the urine is of 
natural color, highly albuminous, and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 245 

shows a large number of oily bubbles, the 
symptoms are most unfavorable and dan- 
gerous. Medical advice should be at once 
resorted to ; delay dangerous and often 
fatal. There should be complete absti- 
nence from intoxicating drinks, starchy 
food, sugar, etc. 

In the second form of this disease, amy- 
loid, or waxy degeneration, better known 
as Bright's disease, we often fi'nd some 
connection with scrofula, syphilis, or dis- 
ease of the bones. The symptoms are, 
excessive secretion of urine ; patient has 
to rise several times during the night to 
micturate. Loss of strength coming on 
gradually ; swelling of feet and ancles ; 
urine pale in color. Progress of this dis- 
ease is slow, and almost always has a fatal 
termination. If however taken in the 
onset, the symptoms may be very much 
mitigated, and life prolonged indefinitely. 

Rheumatism. This is a very formidable 



246 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

disease, owing to the suffering it causes, 
the intensity of the fever, and the general 
derangement it inflicts upon the whole 
system. There is no mistaking the gene- 
ral symptoms of this disease. Restlessness, 
stiffness and aching pain in the limbs, fol- 
lowing exposure to cold and damp, swell- 
ing and tenderness of one or more of the 
large joints. Unrelieved, the patient is 
soon rendered a pitiable spectacle of help- 
less suffering. He dare not move ; pain 
in the joints so agonizing that even the 
weight of bed clothes cannot be borne ; 
among other symptoms the urine becomes 
high colored, acid, scanty, and loaded with 
urates. This disease, though commonly 
attributed to cold and exposure, is as often 
the result of suppressed, or badly treated 
gonorrhoea, as to any other cause. In fact 
two-thirds of the cases of rheumatism, 
whether acute or chronic, I am called upon 
to prescribe for, I find upon pushing my 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 247 

inquiries, that the individual has had gon- 
orrhea, and that I had a case of gonorrhceal 
rheumatism on my hands. As the treatment 
of this form of the disease should be en- 
tirely different from that proper to the 
others, it is important that the medical 
attendant be able to distinguish between 
them. As this is rarely thought of by 
ordinary practitioners, in cases where the 
usual remedies do not promptly afford re- 
lief, a specialist had better be applied to. 
The remedies which I apply in these cases 
act with great energy, and I rarely fail to 
have my patient on foot in a very short 
time. 

Testicular Neuralgia. Irritable tes- 
tis, a pain of the testicles, oftentimes very 
distressing, and assuming the character of 
true neuralgia. There is no swelling, or 
increase of heat, but only intolerence of 
the least pressure, and retraction of gland 
close to the groin during the paroxysms. 



248 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

This complaint frequently arises from mas- 
turbation, or excessive sexual intercourse ; 
disease at prostrate part of urethra ; or as 
a sequel to testitis ; from gout ; dyspepsia, 
with very acid urine ; calculus in the kid- 
ney or ureter, variocele, etc., sometimes is 
so severe as to induce patients either to 
castrate themselves, or seek it at the hands 
of others, a compliance with which would 
be perfectly unjustifiable, save in very ex- 
ceptionable cases. Skilful medical treat- 
ment, with rest and quiet, will soon re- 
move the difficulty. 

Testitis. This term, derived from the 
Latin word testis, meaning a witness, be- 
cause the testicle is a proof of virility, or 
manhood, is applied to inflammation of the 
testicle, and in its various forms distin- 
guished as either acute, or chronic, or spe- 
cific, as syphilitic or tubercular. 

Acute Testitis f otherwise known as orchi- 
tis, or swelled testicle, is generally due to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 249 

extension of gonorrhceal inflammation from 
urethra ; such inflammation having been 
often superinduced or aggravated by strong 
injections, use of alcoholic drinks, strains, 
sudden jar, or fall, etc. The central por- 
tion, or body of the gland may be affected ; 
the epididymitis and tunica vaginalis may 
be attacked, or all these parts may suffer. 
Symptoms usually are, pain and feeling of 
weight in cord and testicle ; uneasiness 
about the loin, groin, and upper part of the 
thigh. Frequent passing of urine ; swell- 
ing of the testicle ; the scrotum firm and 
tense ; swelling of cord ; pressure aggra- 
vates the pain. Febrile disturbance ; 
nausea and vomiting ; constipation, etc. 

Chronic Testitis either follows an acute 
attack, or the inflammation may be suba- 
cute or chronic from commencement. It 
may also be due to stricture of urethra ; 
to gleet ; or to a syphilitic taint. Morbid 
action usually begins in the epididymis, 



250 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and extends to body of the testicle. There 
is swelling, hardness and tenderness on 
pressure ; a sense of weight. When due 
to constitutional syphilis there are other 
manifestations, such as pustular, or scaly 
skin eruptions, rheumatic pains, ulcers 
about tongue or throat, derangement of 
genera] health, etc. 

Scrofulous Testicle, is indicated by slow 
and subacute inflammation, with deposit 
of tubercular matter between the seminal 
tubes, or into the epididirnis ; there grad- 
ually forms nodular swellings, without 
much pain ; they seldom attain much size, 
softening and suppuration takes place, and 
the tumors burst, pus and tubercular 
matter coming away. I need not say that 
all the foregoing conditions of inflamed 
testicle are generally of the most serious 
character, and very frequently baffle the 
efforts of the most skilful physicians. The 
usual palliatives in cases of inflammatory 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 251 

swellings seem to be useless here. Fomen- 
tations, leeching, counter-irritants have 
alike, at times, failed to give relief, simply 
because the primary cause of the mischief 
is not ascertained. I have as often found 
testitis to result from an old stricture, of 
which nothing is said by the patient, as 
from any other cause ; and in fact from 
many occult causes, which only the prac- 
ticed specialist would be likely to suspect 
or ascertain. T.ubercular disease of the 
lungs not unfrequently manifests itself in 
connection with scrofulous testicle. Where 
constitutional disturbance is very great, a 
removal of the source of irritation by cas- 
tration may be rendered necessary. 

Urcemia. A poisonous condition of the 
blood, from the accumulation of urea, 
owing to its non-elimination by the kidneys. 
Symptoms are, disturbed condition of either 
or both the great nervous centres, convul- 
sions, albumenaria, suppression of urine. 



252 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Urethritis. Inflammation of the ure- 
thra, either acute or chronic, and may 
arise independently of gonorrhoea, or sy- 
philis. Is often produced by copulation 
with females having leuchorrhea, or other 
viscous discharges. It is accompanied by 
a sense of heat along the urethra, with 
more or less pain on urinating ; sometimes 
a muco-purulent discharge ; irritability of 
the bladder; the urine may contain an 
excess of uric acid; sometimes blood, pus, 
or ropy mucous. The lips of the urethral 
orifice very much swollen ; retention of 
urine may be caused by spasmodic stric- 
ture. In cases of this kind, the patient 
should be careful to remember when, and 
under what circumstances his latest expo- 
sure occurred. In nine out of ten the 
chances are, that his physician would put 
him under treatment for gonorrhoea, hence 
the absolute necessity of consulting only 
those who have experience in these mat- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 253 

ters ; rest, demulcent drinks, a little opium 
or astringent injection is all that is needed 
in the one case, where persistent and ex- 
pensive treatment is often required in the 
other. 

Urinary Calculi. Gravel. These con- 
cretions are found in the kidneys, bladder, 
or follicles of the prostrate gland ; very 
rarely one or more urinary salts become 
deposited in the ureters, or in the urethra ; 
usually calculi found in these situations 
have travelled there from the kidneys, or 
bladder. Calculi consists of only one sub- 
stance, or of alternate layers of two or 
more salts, or of uric acid and oxolate of 
lime, etc. These concretions vary much 
in size ; occasionally they resemble grains 
of sand, so small as to pass with the urine, 
at other times calculi are as large as a 
hazel nut, or a small orange. When a 
stone has formed in the pelvis of the kid- 
ney, it may, while of moderate size, enter 



254 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

the ureter, and gradually be forced on- 
ward towards the bladder. The suffering 
which takes place during the transit is 
very great, generally known as a " fit of 
the gravel. 77 The symptoms of stone re- 
tained in the kidney are, almost constant 
back ache, bloody urine, especially after 
exertion, nervous irritability, greatly im- 
paired health, loss of flesh and strength. 
The symptoms of stone in the bladder are, 
repeated attacks of pain in the bladder and 
perineum, always brought on or aggravated 
by exercise. Frequent micturation, some- 
times incontinence of urine, with a feeling 
that the bladder is not thoroughly emptied 
by the act of urinating. Urine often 
thick, with ropy mucous ; sometimes con- 
tains pus or blood. Act of passing urine 
often suddenly stopped by the stone being 
forced against the neck of the bladder ; 
on making any movement, the flow of urine 
returns. Bearing down pains, prolapsus 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 255 

of the rectum. Stone may be discovered 
by the use of the sound.. I need not ad- 
vise the patient that gravel, or stone in 
the kidneys or bladder, is a very formida- 
ble and troublesome complaint, calling for 
great care in the life, exercise, diet, and 
pursuits of the sufferer. Each peculiar 
characteristic of the disease calls for par- 
ticular treatment and palliatives, and reme- 
dies are so numerous as almost to bewilder 
and confound the patient. The mode of 
treatment in its various stages, must be 
adapted to the constitutional stamina and 
tendencies, care being taken to fortify the 
system without stimulating it. With the 
old school physicians, lithotomy, or an 
operation for taking away the stone, was 
the only reliance for permanent relief, 
whilst with the later and better informed 
physicians, litholysis, or efforts at a solu- 
tion of the calculus by injections of solvent 
preparations, are deemed the most appro- 



256 MEDICAL ADVISER. , 

priate and likely to succeed. This latter 
mode of treatment, aided by proper inter- 
nal remedies, 1 am satisfied is the true 
one, as well as the safest. My experience 
has been very large in these cases, and in 
many instances,* where it has been decided 
that " an operation " could only afford re- 
lief, I have, with the aid of disintegrating 
means and solvents, produced results which 
have more than realized my greatest ex- 
pectations. So repeatedly have I succeed- 
ed in this, that I have no hesitation in 
assuring all those afflicted with gravel or 
stone, that I can, if not entirely cure them, 
at least so far modify and alleviate their 
disorder, as to deprive it of nearly all its 
inconveniences and terrors ; so much so, 
that lithotomy is rendered entirely unne- 
cessary. 

Vesical Inflammation, or inflammation 
of the bladder is a very severe disease, 
and without proper treatment may lead to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 257 

fatal results. It may be either acute, or 
chronic, and may arise idiopathically, or 
supervene on chronic inflammation, irrita- 
tion of a calculus, from external injury, or 
disease of the pelvis, viscera, etc. The 
mucous lining of the neck of the bladder 
more often attacked than other parts of it. 
The symptoms are, shivering pain over the, 
bladder ; heat of the urethra ; a constant 
desire to pass urine, which comes away in 
small quantities ; high fever ; nausea ; 
constitutional disturbance ; mental depres- 
sion. The bladder can perhaps be felt as 
a small, round, tender tumor. Severe pain 
is felt, extending to the perineum, and 
down the thighs, increased by abdominal 
pressure. Unless relief is had, almost un- 
bearable pain, constant calls to urinate, 
the urine is expelled in drops, or there is 
complete retention of it. The urine be- 
comes fetid and alkaline ; contains shreds 
of fibrous matter, clotted with pus and 



258 MEDICAL ADVISER, 

blood. Great prostration ensues, cold, 
clammy sweats, delirium and fatal ex- 
haustion. 

A patient attacked with this disease 
should at once be treated by hip-baths, 
warm fomentations, linseed or hemlock 
poultices, with doses of castor oil to keep 
,the bowels open. When indications of 
exhaustion are apparent, he should be 
given essence of beef, wine, brandy, cream, 
raw eggs, etc. The doctor should at once 
be called, and his attendance insisted upon, 
until a favorable turn occurs. Chronic 
Cystitis is a much more common, less dan- 
gerous and fatal disease than the. former. 
It sometimes follows acute cystitis, but is 
more frequently due to gout, retention of 
decomposing urine, irritation of urine 
charged with saline diuretics, foreign sub- 
stances in the bladder, etc. The symptoms 
are usually quite slight ; commences with 
vague feeling of indisposition; increased 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 259 

sensibility of the walls of the bladder; fre- 
quent micturation ; scanty urine, with per- 
haps a small quantity of mucous, or pus ; 
sometimes loaded with viscid, ropy mu- 
cous. The treatment will be altogether 
indicated as in other vesical diseases, by 
the habits, temperament, and constitu- 
tional tendencies of the patient. The 
bladder should be kept emptied, even if 
the catheter be resorted to. It should also 
be frequently washed out thoroughly with 
warm water, or some astringent ; a free 
use of demulcent drinks ; barley-water, in- 
fusion of linseed, etc. The system should 
be well sustained by the use of animal 
food ; milk, or cream, raw eggs, and occa- 
sionally alcoholic stimulants. 

Vesical Paralysis. Is another form of 
disease of the bladder, in which its mus- 
cular coat may become paralyzed from 
causes frequently very obscure. The 
symptoms are, insensibility of feeling, and 



260 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

retention of its contents when in this con- 
dition. When the distension becomes 
great, the urine dribbles away by the ure- 
thra, and becomes loaded with mucous ; is 
alkaline, and of an^ offensive ammoniacal 
odor. Sometimes severe pain at the neck 
of the bladder, producing great constitu- 
tional disturbance. Death frequently en- 
sues from sheer exhaustion. When dis- 
ease of nervous centres exists, symptoms 
can only be relieved as they arise. 

Vesical Spasm, or sudden attacks of 
severe pain in the bladder ; may arise 
from gravel or tumor, or some disease of 
the rectum, abscess of the kidney, ulcera- 
tion, or other organic disease of the bladder, 
prostrate gland, etc.; highly aciduous 
urine ; excessive indulgence with women, 
or from the use of irritating diuretics. 
The symptoms are, severe pain in the 
lower part of the abdomen, extending to 
the urethra ; involuntary micturation ; and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 261 

sometimes retention of the urine, with 
great desire to void it. When this trouble 
is of long continuance, death has resulted, 
with symptoms of the suppression of the 
urine. The patient should be careful to 
dress warm, be very regular in his diet, 
avoid all violent exercise and sexual inter- 
course ; early application to medical advice 
is all important. 

Vesical Irritability. Irritability of 
the bladder may be said to exist when 
there is an unnaturally frequent desire to 
pass urine. It may arise from organic 
disease of the kidneys, bladder, prostrate 
gland, or urethra ; the irritation of hoemorr- 
hoids, or intestinal worms ; presence of a 
tumor or calculus in the bladder ; or simply 
from some functional derangement of the 
kidneys, bladder, stomach, or nervous sys- 
tem. The symptoms are, a great desire 
to pass urine ; comes on suddenly and fre- 
quently ; it may have to be passed every 



262 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

fifteen or thirty minutes. This disease is 
very difficult to resist or overcome. If 
attempted, produces great uneasiness and 
pain. The urine seldom increases in quan- 
tity ; the bladder diminishes in size, and 
the general health suffers very much from 
the annoying irritation. In these cases 
nothing short of thoroughly skilful and 
scientific treatment is of any avail. The 
urine must be examined and tested to see 
if it be preternaturally acid or alkaline ; 
or if loaded with urates, phosphates, or 
oxalates ; or, whether it contains pus, 
albumen, sugar, or any other morbid mate- 
rial ; to see to what cause the disease is to 
be attributed, and to trace it to its origin. 
Until proper medical advice is secured, 
the patient should avoid all severe exertion 
and active exercise, keep quiet, make ap- 
plications of warm, or tepid salt-water 
baths, avoid stimulants, tea and coffee, sub- 
stituting cocoa with his meals, etc. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 263 

With this enumeration and symptomatol- 
ogy of the most common and prevalent 
diseases of the male urinary organs, with 
their appendages and parts generally dis- 
posed to be affected by them sympatheti- 
cally, I submit this part, of my Medical 
Adviser to the candid examination and 
criticism of the reader. If he has paid 
but a moderate degree of attention, he 
cannot have failed to learn that a knowl- 
edge of this branch of medical science is 
only to be obtained by great labor, and 
study of every department of knowledge, 
embracing not merely those usually deemed 
necessary to the accomplished physician 
and surgeon, but he must possess great 
powers of observation, analysis and com- 
parison, a clear head, a sharp eye, and a 
steady hand. Not one physician in a thou- 
sand is capable of becoming a good and 
reliable specialist, whilst the really edu- 
cated and accomplished specialist mast 



264 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

necessarily be a good physician. His 
knowledge of the pathology of disease, 
anatomy, materia medica and surgery, in 
all their branches, must be thorough and 
complete, or he becomes a failure in the 
professional walk which he has selected. 
The reader will also be able to judge of 
the degree of confidence and reliability to 
be attached to those who, for the most 
part, assume this business, and hold them- 
selves forth as professors and doctors, 
soliciting the patronage of the public 
through flaming advertisements and hand- 
bills, setting forth their extraordinary 
abilities, and wonderful cures. These 
men are, as well known, usually very 
illiterate, and have set themselves up in 
this business as a refuge from manual 
labor, as best affording them opportunities; 
■under the guise of professional services, 
of preying upon mankind. Fully four- 
fifths of them have repeatedly run them- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 265 

selves out in other pursuits, and not one of 
ten of them can distinguish one sexual dis- 
ease from another, whilst their whole stock 
of remedies consists of but one or two com- 
mon and well known drugs, which, in solu- 
tion, or as compounds, are disguised by 
different colored liquids, which they ad- 
minister indiscriminately, whatever may 
be the disease, charging enormous prices 
for them, whilst the patient, if cured at all, 
is done so in spite of the dosing, and not 
in consequence of it. 

In the course of my long practice, I 
have had thousands of patients who, long 
time the victims of these imposters, have 
had disease in its most deadly form, locked 
up in their systems for months and years, 
after being guaranteed a cure, only to be 
astounded at its breaking out afresh when 
they least expected it, on exposure to 
some trifling exposure or excess in diet, 
or drink. I make these statements reluo- 



266 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

tantly, but my experience assures rne of 
their truth, and I yield to the propriety of 
their exposure, if I would not be deemed 
accessory to their committal, or as counte- 
nancing, by my silence, such flagrant vio- 
lations of professional obligation and duty. 
The great business of the physician is to 
cure and heal, speedily and successfully if 
he can, thus, securing reputation and cli- 
entage, which, by its extent and numbers 
will add to his worldly success, a hundred 
fold greater profits than though, with but 
an occasional patient, he seeks to draw 
from the few by exorbitant fees, and a 
system of overreaching, the income ne- 
cessary for his support. As for myself, I 
prefer to give satisfaction to my patrons, 
and to enhance a reputation for skill and 
efficiency in my profession. I have ever 
felt an honest pride in sending forth my 
patients cured of their diseases at the 
earliest possible period of time, satisfied 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 267 

that, every such case becomes a living- 
advertisement in my favor. Having said 
thus much in regard to myself personally, 
I now respectfully invite the readers 
attention to the following second grand 
division of my Medical Adviser. 



END OF PART FIRST. 



PART SECOND. 
Addressed to Females exclusively. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



Ladies : — The several editions of a 
work written and published by me, some 
years ago, in the early years of my profes- 
sional career, upon the diseases of females, 
having long since been exhausted, and 
now entirely out of print, I am, in view of 
the great good which it accomplished, and 
the numerous calls for it from every part 
of the country, induced to issue a new 
and revised edition, or rather, I may say, 
a new and more perfect work upon the 
same subject, very much enlarged, and 
more particular as to detail ; and although 
I have done this amidst the pressure of a 
most extensive practice, and a correspon- 
dence reaching to almost every State and 

(271) 



272 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

territory in the Union, through which I 
am daily prescribing for the medical treat- 
ment of hundreds of cases arising from the 
causes which are alluded to in the follow- 
ing pages, I flatter myself that this treatise, 
short as it is, will be found of deep and 
impressive interest to every reader, and 
to meet a want long felt by those to whom 
it is more especially addressed. A long 
and successful practice, extending to over 
thirty years, during which I have been 
called upon to treat almost every shade 
and variety of female disease, enables me 
to discuss the subject from a practical 
stand-point and knowledge which but very 
few have had the like opportunity to 
acquire. Long satisfied, from my daily in- 
tercourse with my patients, and the letters 
I am constantly receiving, that there is a 
most lamentable lack of common-sense infor- 
mation in regard to these matters, I have 
endeavored to make myself understood, and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 273 

the whole subject intelligible to the reader, 
without obscuring it by the use of techni- 
cal or professional terms, too often made 
use of by many, and particularly by a cer- 
tain class of medical adventurers who put 
forth a book rather as an attractive medium 
of advertising themselves and their spe- 
cialty, than to enlighten, instruct, and 
guide their readers in relation to the pres- 
ervation of their health, without which all 
other possessions are valueless. 

The day has, I trust, long gone by when 
it was thought wise and expedient on the 
part of the professional man, as well as by. 
the refined and accomplished of the female 
sex, to shut up as a " sealed book " all 
knowledge of physiology, the mysteries of 
procreation, maternity, and the laws of life, 
from our young women, as though they, 
of all others in the world, were not the 
most deeply interested. That state of so- 
ciety and moral sentiment which prevailed 



274 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

in this country less than fifty years ago, 
and not yet entirely eradicated, which 
would only permit these wonderfully in- 
teresting and really important subjects to 
be alluded to in suppressed whispers, and 
symbolical nods, has, thanks to a more lib- 
eral and enlarged view of woman's duties 
and true position, forever passed away; 
and the female of the present day is not 
only permitted, but invited to study and 
comprehend all the functions and uses of 
her own wondrous and beautiful organiza- 
tion, at least, to a sufficient extent to ena- 
ble her to guard against the numerous and 
dangerous mishaps to which she is, through 
a variety of causes, difficult to be express- 
ed, but readily understood, daily and hourly 
exposed. 

How many patient and exemplary wives 
and mothers have gone down to premature 
graves, simply because of their ignorance 
of the simplest and most palpable laws of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 275 

their being ? What an untold amount of 
protracted physical suffering and wretched- 
ness might have been avoided, had they 
felt free, and unshackled by a false deli- 
cacy or mawkish sensitiveness, to disclose 
the nature of their sufferings to a friendly 
and confidential medical adviser. How 
many have dragged out lives of miserable 
invalidism, who, had they have known that 
it was not to a weak constitution, but to a 
faulty training, and a lack of important 
knowledge that they were indebted for the 
long train of miseries over which they 
daily and nightly groaned ? 

From the earliest days of adolescence 
and puberty, up to fall-grown womanhood, 
how many there are who have been con- 
stantly riveting upon themselves some 
fatal disease, such as consumption, or ren- 
dering themselves the victims of hypo- 
chondria and other nameless forms of dis- 
ease, by an indulgence in habits contracted 



276 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

innocently, it may be, at the boarding- 
school, through simple ignorance, or by the 
example of domestics and others equally 
ignorant, and as simple as themselves. 

The dangers of maternity, such as they 
present themselves at the present day, 
are only the incidents of civilization and 
fashionable life ; but they afford us an 
array of facts and statistics which, to the 
lover of his species, are truly alarming. 

The proper education of the passions 
has been too long neglected. It was deem- 
ed a subject too delicate for female ears to 
listen to, and the insane asylums, the 
charity hospitals, and the grave-yard, tell 
us but too plainly the result. Nay, worse 
than this, a race of puny, almost imbecile 
offspring, the heritors of the sins of 
their fathers and mothers, are coming on, 
in their turn, to assist in the deterioration 
of the human family ; so true it is " That 
the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 277 

the children's teeth are set on edge." 
A false modesty, a false and mischievous 
standard of a miscalled propriety, may hold 
up its hands in holy horror, as if shocked 
at the plainness of utterance with which 
the physician may find it necessary to 
speak of these things ; nevertheless, a self- 
conviction that the u half has not been 
told," will eventually exonerate him, and 
his counsels will be sought for and heeded 
.by the wise and the thoughtful. 

The limits of this little book will not 
permit me to enter very extensively into 
details. Indeed, it is not necessary that I 
should do so, but simply to offer a " guide " 
by which the hitherto misdirected and 
almost lost, may find a way of res- 
cue and safety; to point out to them 
that there is indeed a " balm in 
Gilead and a physician there." Carefully 
abstaining from expressions calculated to 
wound or offend the most delicately 



278 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

sensitive of those I am addressing, I shall 
endeavor, in the following pages, to give 
you such an outline of those dangers which 
threaten you, as well as of those evils 
which you now suffer, as will enable you 
to avail yourselves understand ingly of 
those helps, both moral and physical, 
which I am prepared to offer to all those 
who may feel inclined to place themselves 
under my direction. 

Nearly half a century devoted to medical 
science, and chiefly in those departments 
of it in which the laws and mysteries of 
life are mostly concerned, with the exper- 
ience of a daily practice more varied and 
extensive than is rarely attained but by a 
very few, and exceeded by none, I may 
flatter myself that I am able successfully to 
treat each and every case in which I am 
consulted, to the entire satisfaction and 
relief of my patients. 

I cannot close this part of my work 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 279 

without giving a word or two of caution to 
such as are contemplating medical treat- 
ment, or who may feel themselves under 
the necessity of taking the advice of a 
physician. 

From the universality of the complaints 
and diseases herein alluded to and enumer- 
ated, the study of which I have so long 
made a specialty, not a few, styling them- 
selves doctors, have attempted to com- 
pound so called " specifics, 77 and the news- 
papers teem with advertisements of 
nostrums of one kind or another, such as 
" French Periodical Pills/ 7 " Valpeau 7 s 
Pills, 77 the various preparations of iodine 
and sarsparilla, as tonics and alteratives ; 
whilst others, pretended graduates of this 
or that medical institute, but in fact 
charlatans, in science and medicine, 
ask you to credit their monstrous 
assumptions of superiority in the heal- 
ing art, illustrating the old saying, 



280 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

" fools rush in where angels fear to tread." 
When it is considered that there are rarely 
any two cases alike, and that it requires a 
careful and skilful diagnosis of each case, 
based upon well ascertained facts and 
symptoms, to enable the physician to 
accomplish that for which he is consulted, 
patients cannot be too careful in selecting 
as their medical adviser one whose well- 
established reputation affords a sure 
guarantee that neither imposition nor dis- 
appointment will arise from the confidence 
and trust they place in him. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 281 



ACKO WLED GEMENT. 

ALTHOUGH in the composition of 
this division of my book, I have 
chiefly relied upon my own experience, 
and in the matters discussed have sought 
to confirm my own views, or, if wrong, to 
correct them by a pretty general perusal 
of all the standard works bearing upon the 
subject I could procure ; yet the de- 
mands of a large, and constantly increas- 
ing practice, have, for many years past, 
precluded the possibility of my keeping 
up, as well as I could wish, with the 
constantly accumulating literature upon 
these and kindred topics. I have, how- 
ever, taken time to re-peruse many old 
works with which I made myself familiar 
in my student days, and have read up 



282 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

much that has recently been published by 
eminent writers both in this country and 
in Europe. I do not, of course, refer to 
the transient and worthless trash so fre- 
quently advertised under such specious 
titles as " Sexual Physiology/' or " The 
Science of Life/' which, to say the best of 
them, are mere compilations, without order 
or arrangement, evidently strung together 
by the writers knowing little or nothing 
about the subject upon which they pre- 
tend to treat. I have consulted in their 
original, such works as Duparcque. 
Traite theoirque et pratique des maladies or- 
ganiques et simples de Puterus. Paris, 1832. 
Martin, Memoires de medicine et de 
chirurgie pratique sur plusuires maladies 
et accidents graves qui peuvent compliquer 
la grossesse, la parturition, et les couches. 
Lyon, 1835. J. Imbert, Traite theorique et 
pratique des maladies des femmes. Paris, 
1838, Ch. Waller, Lectures on the func- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 283 

tions and diseases of the unimpregnated 
womb. London, 1849. Fabre, Bibliotheque 
du Medicine practicien. Paris, 1843, tomes 
I et II, des maladies des femmes. Merr- 
yille, Historie med et philos. de la femme, 
etc. Paris, 1845. Mathieu, Etudes 
cliniques sur les maladies des femmes, etc. 
Paris, 1848. Ashwell, Lesfranc and 
many others, to whose works I am indebted 
for many valuable suggestions. To no work 
have I turned more frequently, nor with 
greater satisfaction, than to the writings of 
the great father of medicine himself, Hip- 
pocrates, De la nature des la femme ; des 
maladies des femmes; des maladies des 
femmes steriles; des maladies des jeunes 
filles, (Euvres completes trad, par Littree, 
tomes VII et VIII. I have also re-read the 
old work of Albertus Magnus, De secretis 
mulierum ; published in the original Latin, 
at Amsterdam, in 1643, a correct transla- 
tion of which I have never yet been able 



284 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

to find. Among the various periodical 
publications, I should mention Sacombe, 
Lucine frangaise ou recueil d'observations 
relatives aux accouchinents, etc., Paris. 
Andrieux et Lubanski, Annales d'obstetri- 
que, des maladies des femmes et des 
enfantes, Paris, 1842, and I must not omit 
the very valuable publication by Doctor 
M. H. Henry, Surgeon to the New York 
Dispensary, Department of Venerial and 
Skin Diseases, etc., etc. Indeed, it would 
be impossible for me to enumerate the 
vast amount of medical lore which I have 
pored over in refreshing my memory and 
reviving facts which have long slumbered, 
but have never been forgotten, in my 
mind. Whilst in any case I have carefully 
avoided being a servile copyist, I have not 
hesitated to profit by the knowledge 
I have derived from these sources. In 
thus doing, I have endeavored, and, I 
trust, succeeded, in giving to my book 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 285 

the stamp of authority, which can alone 
render it a safe and reliable Medical 
Adyiser and Guide to Health. 

F. M. 



PART SECOND. 



MORRILL'S MEDICAL ADVISER 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 



ADDRESSED TO FESLALES EXCLUSIVELY. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 289 



CHAPTER I. 

TO SINGLE LADIES. 

NATURE, if not interfered with, nor her 
laws violated, always produces a per- 
fect work. But unhappily for the human 
race, modern civilization, with all its meli- 
orations, has brought with it also a host of 
evils, which beset the youthful and inex- 
perienced almost immediately upon their 
entrance into the world. The infant of 
these latter days, too often discarded to 
the keeping of hireling nurses, is made to 
suck in, almost with its first breath, the 
elements of disease, perverted appetites, 
and passions ; and if it has escaped heredi- 
tary taint, is not nurtured, but tortured up, 



290 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

into a fragile and passionate being, far 
from being " a helpmate for man/' but, too 
often, a fair subject for his commiseration, 
his care, and his deepest sympathy. The 
victims of this false training, alas, too soon 
find themselves adrift upon the wide ocean 
of life, and without the power of self-con- 
trol, soon become shattered, if not stranded, 
upon the reefs and quicksands that lie in 
their course. With no friendly hand to 
guide them, with no friendly counsels to 
aid them, they struggle on, year after year, 
miserable, helpless, and aimless. It is to 
such, deprived of the kind and fostering 
care of an intelligent mother, or other 
female guardian, that I chiefly address 
myself. 

The age of puberty varies according to 
country and climate. Whilst in eastern 
and Asiatic countries the girl attains it at 
a comparatively early period, in the United 
States, particularly in the northern, east- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 291 

era, and middle sections of it, from four- 
teen to sixteen years may be regarded as 
the period when the female can safely to 
herself or offspring assume the cares and 
duties of maternity. It is at this time of 
life, too, that a large portion of diseases, 
either incidental to the development of the 
complete woman, or which may have been 
inherited from weak and sickly progeni- 
tors, are in most danger of manifesting 
themselves. All the disagreeable ailments, 
which, if improperly treated, may lead to. 
fatal results, or settle down into permanent 
infirmities, — attendant upon the change in 
life, require the best skill of the physician 
to regulate, suppress and cure. Irregu- 
larity, or a temporary suppression of that 
natural discharge which nature has provid- 
ed, is as fatal to health and well-being as 
would be the cessation to eat your daily 
food. Should this happen, you would, as 
is too often the case with young females, 



292 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

hesitate, and through bashfulness and tim- 
idity fail to make a confidante of the phy- 
sician, and ask an explanation why this is 
so ; or if you dp, it may be of some one of 
no knowledge about the matter, or you 
listen to the always ready advice of some 
underling, who will tell you wonders about 
the efficacy of " iron powders " and " ton- 
ics," of blood-root and bitter herbs ; and 
you make decoctions of rusty nails and 
other stuffs which have been recommended 
to you* only to meet with cruel disappoint- 
ment, until you sink in utter despondency. 
Life itself becomes a weary burden, and 
the elastic step, the rosy cheek, and the 
sparkling eye are yours no longer. 

Here now is the time when longer delay 
would be most pernicious, and often fatal. 
You must consult a skilful physician, who 
is able at once to guide and direct you, 
and, without injury, or disturbing the won- 
derful organism of your body, restore you 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 293 

to a sound and vigorous health. Under 
his direction the colorless lip, the pallid 
cheek, and the leaden eye will vanish as 
the mists of the morning. Youth and na- 
ture will again assert their supremacy, and 
you will go forth in the spring-tide of life 
to fulfil a true woman's mission. 

But if, as you have advanced in life, you 
have, as thousands have done before you, 
found yourself assailed by a complication 
of troubles, from whatever cause they may 
arise, undermining your health and destroy- 
ing your happiness, you must summon the 
courage to grapple with them at once.- 
Do not be deceived, nor, in the hope of 
relief, grasp at the promises held out by 
advertised specifics and nostrums which 
are to cure you privately, and without 
hindrance to your usual employments or 
pleasures. 

You know and feel that there is some- 
thing wrong, and you detect all those 



294 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

symptoms indicative of failing health. A 
weakness of the back, pains in the loins, a 
burning sensation and constriction is ex- 
perienced where no difficulty had occurred 
before, and you are in doubt what to do. 
You resort to the first offered relief, in 
counter-irritants or mineral poisons, thus 
endangering, if not your very life itself, at 
least your health and well-being, and en- 
tailing upon you a long catalogue of dis- 
eases, which, had you at first called upon 
and confided to a medical man, would have 
been nipped in the very bud. 

There are other evils than those to 
which I have alluded, and to which you 
are liable, through a faulty education, or 
want of timely warning ; habits which, 
although but triflingly and thoughtlessly 
indulged in at first, may have wound 
around you their adamantine chains, until 
you find yourself powerless in their em- 
brace. Solitude, the absence of virtuous 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 295 

male society, vitiated tastes engendered 
by reading romances and tales of luxurious 
and amorous life ; the seductions of the 
theatre and the dance, with their attendant 
allurements and excitements, may have led 
) r ou to a momentary forgetfulness of the 
dignity of your own person, and you have 
sinned against nature itself in its most sen- 
sitive part ; and as a consequence, you are 
now suffering the penalty which invariably 
follows a violation of its laws. Lassitude, 
indigestion, a loss of memory, unrefreshing 
sleep, restlessness, and an unwonted and 
undefinable anxiety have fallen upon you. 
Unnatural desires have been engendered, 
and you feel a longing for unseemly and 
indigestible food. You crave and freely 
eat substances which, in a healthy state, 
would be repulsive and disgusting to you. 
Clay, chalk and slate pencils you are fami- 
liar with, and, as the habit grows upon 
you, you descend lower and lower, until 



296 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

you find relief only in opium and other 
narcotics, when life soon becomes a burden, 
and you are brought face to face with the 
alternatives of suicide or despair. Is this 
not so ? If it is, it is time that you resort 
to the aid of medical treatment. There 
must be no tampering with drugs unad- 
vised. It will not do to rely upon adver- 
tised specifics, nor old women's charms. 
The living doctor is your only resource, 
and him you must consult frankly and 
honestly. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 297 



CHAPTER II. 

TO SINGLE LADIES. 

(Continued.) 

EARLY LESSONS, HABITS, TEMPTATIONS, AND 
DANGERS. 

THERE are ailments to which young 
ladies of even the most guarded and 
correct habits are liable, and by which they 
are not unfrequently sorely afflicted, with- 
out either themselves or others being able 
to refer them to any direct or probable 
cause, other than " it has so happened." 
They have been chaste in both thought 
and act, but notwithstanding this, they are 
subjected to infirmities and pains, the con- 
sequences of which are constant distress, 



29& MEDICAL ADVISER. 

restlessness, unhappiness and discontent. 
As the girl approaches the age of puberty 
and womanhood, her natural instincts impel 
her to a desire for beauty of form and feature 
if she does not already possess them, and 
whatever ma) 7 have been her culture, or 
her advantages of education and society, 
or whatever may be her disposition, she 
intuitively seeks to render herself pleasing 
to the opposite sex, and to compete for 
their smiles and admiration. She knows 
that beauty attracts, whilst plainness, or 
deformity repels. She early and rapidly 
learns to avail herself of all the resources 
of art within her reach to enhance the at- 
tractiveness of her personal charms, or to 
conceal the defects occasioned by the lack 
of them. She dreads the ashen lip and 
the pallid cheek, because she knows that 
they are indicative of ill health, and not 
compatible with beauty. Her very anxiety 
about these matters is of itself an evil and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 299 

an error on her part, as it leads to the very 
mischief she so much fears. There is 
nothing so conducive to health and beauty 
as contentment. But this cannot always 
be attained. The cares, anxieties and 
labors of life are shared by the young, as 
Avell as the old, and upon all alike leave their 
mark, but upon none so vividly as upon 
the young girl. The tumults of passion, 
the depressing influences of grief, anxiety 
and care, divert the invigorating currents 
of life, health and beauty, and before she 
is aware of it, some one of these fountains 
are disturbed, and she is made the victim 
of disease ; and in no form is it so apt to 
manifest itself as in the cessation of that 
" monthly turn " which nature has taught 
her is so essential to her well-being. This 
stoppage may arise from other causes. It 
is almost always coincident with the inci- 
pient development of consumption, and 
very frequently the first alarm is occasion- 



300 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ed, not so much from the latent phthisis as 
from this almost invariable sign of it, and 
remedies are sought for, and applied for an 
effect, when the cause is scarcely suspect- 
ed. I need not say, that in such cases the 
remedies resorted to are almost always 
entirely unavailing. When tubercular dis- 
ease has so far advanced as to interfere 
with the regular catamenial discharge, 
there is no system of treatment, that I am 
aware of, that will regulate or restore it ; 
and therefore, when after repeated trials, 
the practitioner finds that his usual pre- 
scriptions are unavailable, he is safe to 
conclude that the derangement is owing to 
other causes than merely functional, or 
temporary. Let him then turn to his steth- 
oscope, rather than to his medicine-chest. 
But, if in connection with this stoppage, 
auscultation and percussion give no indi- 
cation of unsoundness of the lungs, and 
there is neither cough, nor hectic fever, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 301 

then the ashy lips, and deathly pallor of 
the face is a sure indication of suppression 
from causes which indicate at once a tonic 
and stimulating treatment which cannot 
too soon be resorted to. The patient her- 
self must heartily cooperate in all the 
efforts made to restore her wonted health. 
Tire time for action on her part has arrived, 
and her. own will and energy will accom- 
plish for herself what drugs and medicines 
may assist, but not fully perform. Regular 
hours, early rising, exercise and cold bath- 
ing, especially around the hips, and upon 
the lower region of the abdomen, is of the 
first importance ; warm clothing especially 
flannels worn next the skin ; friction, par- 
ticularly of the thighs and lower extremi- 
ties ; the cultivation of cheerful thoughts, 
and the company of pleasant and agreeable 
society ; and when medicines are required, 
gentle cathartics, alternated by tonics, 
will frequently bring round a desirable 



302 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

state of things. It is neither prudent, or 
desirable, that very active agencies should 
be employed between the periods ; but 
they should be most actively resorted to 
and employed just before the next coming 
time, so as to cooperate with, and be as 
conformable to nature as possible. Prepa- 
rations of iron are at this juncture very 
beneficial. In the absence of any safe and 
medical adviser, the following will be found 
eminently servicable : — 

R. Tartrate of Iron and Potassia, 2 scruples. 

Powdered Columbo, half a drachm. 
Mix and divide into four powders. One 
every three or four hours in syrup. 

or, 

R. Sub-carbonate of Iron, one-and-a-half 
ounces. 
Powdered Gentian. 

" Orange Peel, each half-an- 

ounce. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 303 

Red Wine, one quart. 
Mix, and after digesting a couple of days, 

take half a- wine-glass-full every day. 
Either of the foregoing prescriptions 
will, in all ordinary cases, be found to pro- 
duce all the beneficial results which can 
be expected from any medical preparation. 
Should they not prove immediately effica- 
cious, there should be no uneasiness, nor 
undue anxiety. Nature, unless the ob- 
struction be very obstinate and severe, is 
after all, the most to be relied upon. Nu- 
tricious diet, cleanliness, clothing appro- 
priate to the season, seasonable hours, and 
a cheerful, useful life, will rarely fail to 
bring about a healthy regularity. Every 
young lady knows that, in cases where 
pregnancy may be suspected, that, that 
condition furnishes a good reason for the 
cessation of the monthly discharge. I 
need not enlarge upon this branch of the 
subject. In dangerous and protracted 



304 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

cases, and those which do not yield readily 
to the simple means and remedies which I 
have named, a timely application to your 
physician is your surest resource. And 
here let me caution you ; all physicians are 
not equally skilled in those diseases and 
difficulties to which females are most sub- 
ject. The readiness and clearness of per- 
ception which enables some doctors to 
treat such cases successfully) are acquired 
only by long practice, and a peculiar apti- 
tude for a particular class of cases. They 
have made them their study, and from 
close observation, have acquired a nicety 
of distinction and perception which ena- 
bles them at once to see what is the mat- 
ter ; the extent of the evil, and what is 
the best to do. You should not be deterred 
from consulting a doctor merely because 
he advertises, as, amongst that class are 
often to be found some of the ablest mem- 
bers of the profession. The very fact that 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 305 

he does advertise, shows him to be a man 
of independence and self-reliance, and not 
inclined to be tied down by the arbitrary 
rules and impositions of a professional 
clique, who only dare to go forward with 
the current. And besides, it is very evi- 
dent that men who devote their whole 
attention to the investigation and treat- 
ment of a particular class of diseases, 
must, from daily observation, be more ex- 
pert than those who only have a case occa- 
sionally. There is another consideration, 
not without its force, and which to many 
is a most important one, and it is this. 
To whatever cause the illness of a young 
lady may be attributed, her natural deli- 
cacy and sensitiveness leads her to desire 
secresy and discretion on the part of her 
medical adviser, especially if her ailment 
be at all connected with the genital, ute- 
rine, or procreative organs ; nor does she 
ever wish voluntarily to consult with 



306 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

young and inexperienced physicians upon 
such topics. She prefers to confide her 
troubles to those of mature age, ripe expe- 
rience, who are themselves heads of fami- 
lies, and such is undoubtedly the most pru- 
dent, and the wisest course she can pursue. 
She feels that, with such, the sanctity of 
female character, and female reserve is 
more esteemed, and never wantonly, or 
rudely shocked or assailed by coarse in- 
sinuations, or trifled with by wanton and 
needless examinations and inquiries. That 
physician who has a home of his own, 
blessed w T ith the presence of a confiding 
wife and affectionate children, has no temp- 
tation to dally or trifle with a patient, 
whose necessities may require her to make 
disclosures which may indicate weak points 
in her character, of which the single and 
unmarried man might possibly be incited 
to take advantage. I make these sugges- 
tions in good faith, and for good reasons, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 307 

because I know that such cautions are 
necessary, and that it is not always safe, 
nor proper for a virtuous minded, yet en- 
feebled girl to trust herself alone with 
some of those who, as we all know, unwor- 
thily crowd themselves into, a profession, 
than which, none other on earth, calls for 
such reserve, prudence, and self-abnega- 
tion as that of ours. I have dwelt upon 
this subject, because my opportunities 
for observation have been such that / 
Jcnoio the necessity for the cautions I have 
given; and were I to remain silent upon it, 
I should feel that I was but poorly dis- 
charging my duty to those whom I now 
address. 



308 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CHAPTER III. 

TO SINGLE LADIES. 

(Continued.) 

ARRIVED at the age of puberty, and in 
the full possession of health, and the 
enjoyment of every bodily faculty, with 
neither debility, disease, nor excessive 
care to distract your attention, each day 
leads you on to a riper sense of your des- 
tiny and position in the world. The great 
drama of life and love now begins to 
spread itself before you, and passions, de- 
sires, and longings hitherto but little 
heeded, and scarcely known, begin to make 
themselves felt, and which, if not control- 
ed by virtuous principle, early instilled by 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 309 

parental care and forethought, become 
sources of severe trial, temptation, and 
distress. Vicious examples, a thoughtless 
suggestion from a companion, or the self- 
promptings of libidinous thoughts and 
desires, lead to means of temporary grati- 
fication so revolting, ruinous and deadly, 
that I must throw aside every reserve, and 
address you in relation to them with entire 
freedom, controlled only by such a careful 
selection of terms and language as may not 
necessarily be repugnant nor indelicate. 
It is a lamentable truth that, at the present 
day, there is hardly a female outside of the 
marriage relation, who has arrived at that 
age when the passions and desires are at 
their strongest point, that is not more or 
less addicted to secret habits, which are 
undermining her health, sapping the very 
issues of life and reason, and, more than 
any thing else she can be guilty of, bring- 
ing upon herself, her future husband and 



310 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

offspring, if she should have any, evils, the 
magnitude of which no pen can describe, 
and the consequences of which, could they 
be made to understand and properly esti- 
mate them, would fill their very souls with 
horror. The vile, filthy, and destructive 
vice of self-abuse, or masturbation, is by 
no means confined to convicts, sailors, and 
those whose circumstances and situation in 
life are supposed to seclude them from 
all participation in female society. This 
vice, prevalent as we know it to be among 
the erring, misguided and infatuated of 
the coarser sex, is, we are compelled to 
say, none the less so, among females of a 
certain age. It hardly requires the prac- 
ticed eye of the medical man to detect the 
evidences of this vice all around him ; on 
the street, in the cars, at the hotels, in pri- 
vate houses, in the church and lecture 
room, anywhere and everywhere, where 
the sex are to be seen. There also, upon 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 311 

the face, in the form and gait of almost 
every one of them may be seen the brand 
of shame and self-dishonor, and it is well 
that these infallible signs of this degrading- 
vice should, for the most part, be hidden 
to all, except to the most skilful observer, 
who has for years made it his study to in- 
vestigate the laws and indications by which 
every violation of human health are made 
apparent to the critical professional obser- 
ver. The victim of self-abuse may, by 
whatever effort she may be mistress of, 
clothe herself in all the appearances of 
vigorous health, physical elasticity and 
subdued passions, which her ingenuity can 
suggest, and yet, at a glance, a thorough 
master of his profession, will pierce through 
all her disguises, and after a moment's in- 
spection any where, at any time, in any 
company, unerringly point out the victims 
of this baneful habit. I say a thorough 
master of his profession will do this. But 



312 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

there is not one in every ten thousand phy- 
sicians in this country can do it. There 
are learned professors and lecturers on 
the diseases peculiar to females who imag- 
ine themselves thoroughly learned, who 
cannot do it. The secret was imparted to 
me, not only as an especial favor, but in 
return for no mean pecuniary considera- 
tion, by one of the most remarkable and 
distinguished physicians in this or any 
country, now over eighty years of age, 
whose wonderful attainments had been 
gathered by an extensive intercourse with 
almost every race of people on the face of 
the globe. 

Many young woman have indulged in 
this miserable habit, until they have felt 
some, or all of the symptoms of almost 
every disease which can be named ; a 
want of activity, shortness of breath, coun- 
tenance pale, or earthly looking, a bluish 
appearance around the eyes, cold perspira- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 313 

tion, a desire for much food, and often a 
a craving for unseemly and disgusting 
objects, or no appetite, headache, dizzi- 
ness, diarrhoea, etc. Storms and changes 
of weather produce unpleasant feelings, 
sharp pains in different parts of the body, 
and horrid thoughts of insanity or suicide 
obtrude themselves upon the mind. At 
school she cannot fix her attention upon 
her studies, nor learn her lessons as 
formerly ; loss of memory, and a confusion 
of ideas, and if spoken to, is at a loss for 
words for proper answer ; fits of abstrac- 
tion are frequent, small specks or objects 
appear to float before her eyes, she has 
disagreeable dreams, her extremities are 
cold and bloodless, and a numbness is felt 
in different parts of the body. All of the 
above symptoms do not occur in any one 
case, nor at the same time, but each indi- 
vidual will readily see what number of 
them will apply to her own. Under some 



314 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

of the above symptoms and circumstan- 
ces, the family physician is perhaps con- 
sulted about you, and gives you some 
powders or drops, and something to 
strengthen you, and tells you to take 
care of yourself, but all to no effect. 
You have not disclosed to him your se- 
cret, nor does he suspect it. The physi- 
cian has done for you all that his limited 
knowledge has enabled him to do, and 
yet you are no better. What can be 
done ? Simply this : You must apply to 
those whose experience enables them at 
once to detect the cause, and have the 
moral and professional boldness to charge 
home upon you your weakness and folly. 
As I have never failed in my diagnosis 
in such cases, I have also never failed 
to obtain from my patient a full and 
frank confession that my opinion was 
well founded. And then came the earnest, 
beseeching prayer for rescue and relief. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 315 



CHAPTER IV. 

REASONS FOR AN ENLARGEMENT OF THIS 
WORK. PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS. SPE- 
CIALISM. 

THE foregoing, chiefly embodied in my 
first edition of the Ladies' Guide to 
Health, and addressed to the general read- 
er,has been before the public somewhat over 
a year, during which time nearly two hun- 
dred thousand copies have been sold and 
distributed throughout the United States, 
the Canadas, and to fill many special orders, 
several hundreds have been sent across 
the Atlantic to European countries. So gen- 
eral was the demand for it, that it has pass- 
ed through three large editions, and still 
the call for it is undimished. I have receiv- 



316 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ed from some of the oldest, ablest, and best 
known physicians in the country frequent 
testimonials of their approval, and compli- 
mentary of the style and manner in which 
I presented a subject so environed with 
difficulties, with so few grounds for cavil 
or complaint. All have concurred in ex- 
pressions of astonishment that I should, in 
such brief compass, have been able to con- 
vey so much really needed and valuable 
information upon topics, concerning which 
there has prevailed such a deplorable lack 
of knowledge, and I have been repeatedly 
urged to extend and amplify my work 
by a more particular treatise, bearing es- 
pecially upon those topics in which the 
training, culture, health and physical well- 
being of females should be more particularly 
discussed than the limited space devoted 
to them in the foregoing pages enabled 
me to do. Although The Adviser, in its 
earlier editions, appears to have performed 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 317 

its mission most beneficially, yet I cannot 
well resist the solicitations of my friends, 
nor decline to gratify them in what, after 
all, seems to be no unreasonable demand. 
The first appearance of the book, small as 
it was, evidently arrested the attention of 
thousands upon subjects of the most vital 
importance, when more voluminous and 
elaborate works would have received no 
notice by them whatever. The plain, sim- 
ple, and unaffected style adopted to impress 
upon the minds of my readers the great 
importance of the truths I sought to teach, 
has convinced them that I was presenting 
them with no second hand, or borrowed 
matter, gotten up in order to foist myself 
into public notoriety, but was merely, as I 
stated in the onset, an honest endeavor to 
discharge, in part, a duty which I consid- 
ered every doctor of extensive practice, 
owed to his profession, namely, to extend 
to others whatever of knowledge he may 



318 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

have acquired as useful in mitigating the 
evils, or alleviating the pains of his fellow- 
creatures. 

Far beyond the great mass of my pro- 
fessional brethren, I have enjoyed rare 
opportunities, by personal inspection of 
acquiring a practical knowledge of the 
subjects about which I write. Starting out 
with no one-sided nor cherished theory, to 
the neglect of facts, or the disregard 
of self-evident deductions from occular 
proofs, I state simply that which I know 
to be true. As in my practice, I not un- 
frequently find myself in direct conflict 
with theorists of no little pretensions, so, 
in this treatise, I may differ from them in 
my views upon some of the many interest- 
ing topics which will come under consider- 
ation. My opinions are, however, my 
own, and based upon no trivial circum- 
stances of either fact, testimony or exper- 
ience, and if, guided by them, I have 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 319 

produced more favorable results, and 
attained to a greater degree of success, 
than those who have preferred to follow, 
rather than to lead, in their profession, I 
am not sure but that I am entitled to as 
much credit, or gratitude even, as though 
I had contented myself with being the 
blind and submissive manipulator of other 
men's prescriptions. Every specialist 
knows that the female sex constitute no 
inconsiderable portion of those who apply 
to him for relief, and that, in a large 
majority of these cases, very much of the 
suffering, physical and mental, real as well 
as imaginary, might have been avoided, 
had common prudence been exercised, or 
intelligent counsel sought, ere their 
troubles had fallen upon them. Every 
day of my life adds to my astonishment, 
that girls, and women grown, both single 
and married, who seem to possess a rare 
degree of intelligence upon almost all 



320 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

other subjects, are as ignorant and un- 
skilled in all those matters concerning 
their physical structure, growth, functions, 
and well-being, which it really behooves 
them to know, as the child unborn. 

But the evil does not stop here. If it 
were true that " where ignorance is bliss 
'twere folly to be wise/ 7 then we might 
say that, the instincts of nature may 
safely be trusted, and, aside from accidents, 
no harm likely to arise from it; but un- 
happily this is not the case. At the 
present day, when the office of physician 
is usurped by a throng of reckless adven- 
turers, illiterate, untaught, unread, inex- 
perienced and reckless, as the most of 
them are, who push and crowd themselves 
into every available opening in our large 
cities, and by their flaming advertisements 
and pretentious claims to skill, and grand 
announcements of wonderful cures, (trump- 
ed up for the occasion,) inveigling into 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 321 

their toils some inexperienced and unso- 
phisticated victim, who imagines herself 
suffering under some form of debility or 
disease, the consequence of her own indis- 
cretion, or the natural results of hereditary 
or organic defects, which deprives her of 
that enjoyment which she has been taught to 
consider as the acme of all human delights. 
This is not the place to point oiit to my 
readers the manifold evils which flow 
from this great source of mischief; but 
I shall, before I close this work, devote 
a chapter especially to the unfolding of 
this great conspiracy against human life 
and happiness, and endeavor to show to 
to them the character and qualifications 
of those who daily, through the press 
and otherwise, under the assumed titles 
of doctors, clairvoyants, mesmerizers, etc., 
are doing more to corrupt, ruin, and des- 
troy the health and lives of our wives and 
daughters, than all the errors and mis- 



322 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

takes of the regular faculty put together. 
In carrying out this self-imposed task, I 
am sensible that I incur no small degree of 
risk from the combined hostility of the 
horde whom I assail, and the difficulty of 
convincing the public that behind this 
seeming zeal in behalf of abused and suf- 
fering humanity, there is not concealed 
some questionable motives, having their 
origin either in pique, revenge, or hope of 
gain to myself. Of this my readers must 
judge. I do not expect to escape the 
criticisms of my competitors and opponents, 
nor am I unused to their misrepresenta- 
tions. I have often witnessed, but not 
very severely suffered from, the workings 
of their malevolence and envy. 

In carrying out my plan I shall depart 
very essentially from the ordinary and 
stereotyped method adopted by profession- 
al book makers, especially those whose 
productions are evidently, for the most 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 323 

part, u made to order/' mapped out accord- 
ing to routine, and filled up like a scrap 
book, from the pilfering of old magazines, 
addresses, and encyclopedias. As in my 
practice and treatment of disease, so shall 
I endeavor to be guided by nature's grand 
rationale and common sense ; striving, by 
the use of the simplest terms, and the 
plainest language I can command, to make 
myself understood, and whether I have the 
credit of it or not, strive to be of some 
benefit to those to whom I address myself. 
Instead of a labored attempt at appear- 
ing learned, or a' vain display of scientific 
terms and phrases, which, to most young 
ladies are as so much Greek and nonsense, 
I shall write, or I would talk to them, in a 
friendly, social conversazione, at which we 
were gathered for mutual instruction and 
improvement in physiological science, lead- 
ing them by easy and gradual steps fully 
to comprehend the important lessons which 



324 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

I wish to impress upon their minds, secur- 
ing their attention by alternate narratives 
of facts; scientific analysis, philosophical 
deductions, with the necessarily resulting 
comments of explanation, warning and 
counsel, incident to my subject. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 325 



CHAPTER V. 

THE YOUNG MAIDEN. CATEMENIAL DISCHARGE. 
THE AGE OF PUBERTY. HEALTHFUL AND 
UNHEALTHFUL FLOW. CAUTIONS. AMEN- 
ORRHEA. 

FOR the present I shall, in the order 
which I propose to adopt for our inves- 
tigations, take up as our subject the young 
maiden, just ripening into womanhood, and 
show to what extent she is liable, at this 
critical period of her life, to several most 
distressing, and often very dangerous de- 
rangements of the sexual and utero-genital 
organs, embittering her existence, under- 
mining her health, destroying her comeli- 
ness, souring her temper, and perhaps 



326 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

confining her to a bed of sickness, or, it 
may be, death. 

As previously stated, all females, on arri- 
val at the age of puberty, which varies 
from the age of fourteen to sixteen in our 
climate, and dependent also upon occupa- 
tion and constitution, should have a 
"monthly turn," as it is called, or- vaginal 
discharge, known as the catemenial dis- 
charge, or menstruation, although general- 
ly spoken of as " the menses," or " monthly 
turn," or " courses." Its return is not by 
calendar, but by lunar months of four 
weeks, or twenty-eight days each. This 
physical characteristic of the well formed, 
fully developed and healthy female, consti- 
tute one of the very best indexes we have 
of her capability to become and endure all 
the duties and responsibilities of her ex- 
pected and hoped for future condition of 
wife and mother. If nothing untoward has 
happened ; if properly brought up and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 327 

educated by a wise, sensible and prudent 
mother, the young lady on the first appear- 
ance of this sanguineous discharge expe- 
riences no alarm nor surprise. She has 
expected, this to her, novel advent, and 
even with proud and pleasurable emotions, 
regards it as the evidences of her approach- 
ing fitness for the destiny which awaits 
her. To such an one, little, or no counsel 
of mine is necessary, provided there is a 
sufficient substratum of virtue to resist the 
natural impulses arising from exuberant 
spirits, and the allurements of vice, in 
whatever shape it may ' present itself. 
Nature has fashioned and perfected her ; 
let her do nothing to violate its laws, or 
impede its functions. But unhappily these 
specimens of womanhood are, to use a 
common saying, " like angel's visits, few 
and far between." The nurture, culture, 
and education, tastes, habits, employments 
and amusements of the " girl of the period " 



328 MEDICAL ADVISEK. 

has produced altogether another state of 
things. Instead of the bouncing, merry- 
hearted, cherry-cheeked, artless, and really 
happy girl of former days, and such as is 
now occasionally to be met with in the 
country, we behold, alas ! especially in our 
large cities, swarms of lean, pale, sickly,, 
misshapen, and enfeebled creatures, who, 
for whatever of form or feature they pos- 
sess, are indebted to the paddings of the 
dressmaker, and the artistic skill which 
they possess in the application of cosmet- 
ics and jute. What has produced this 
change it needs no pen of mine to enume- 
rate. We had better draw a veil over the 
process of transformation, and leave to 
conjecture, rather than attempt a descrip- 
tion, at which our better nature revolts, 
and humanity shudders. My duty is as a 
physician, and not as a moralist and preach- 
er, and I must take the world as I find it. 
Physicians are rarely consulted to avert 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 329 

moral evils, but to cure those pertaining 
to the body, and most generally not then, 
until the disease has attained a develope- 
ment too formidable even for his mastery. 
Independent of congenital disease, (I mean 
such as are born with a person) all females 
are subject to various disorders connected 
with menstruation which calls for the im- 
mediate resort to medical aid for their 
relief, and the prevention of greater evils 
which do endanger health and usefulness, 
and may threaten life itself. 

We now reluctantly, but necessarily turn 
to the counterpart of the fresh, rosy, happy 
miss whom we have contemplated, and find 
her at the very threshold of womanhood, a 
victim of pain, anxiety and debility. Instead 
of the well rounded form, the bewitching 
limb, the elastic step, the glowing face and 
sparkling eye, she painfully drags her 
weary steps to her daily tasks, whilst the 
tottering limbs, the palpitating heart, the 



330 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

obstructed breath, the ashy lips, the pallid 
cheek, and the leaden eye too surely point 
her out as the wretched victim of uterine 
or vaginal disorder of some kind. Let us 
now inquire what the trouble may be. 
There are three forms of menstrual diffi- 
culties, each of which is entirely distinct, 
marked by distinct characteristics and 
symptoms, each requiring distinct and pe- 
culiar treatment, and each, if neglected, or 
disregarded, or wrongly treated, inevitably 
producing the most painful, dangerous and 
fatal consequences. We will consider them 
in their order : — 

Amenorrhea. And here is the proper 
place for me observe to my lady and un- 
professional readers, that I shall in this 
book, in the classification and nomenclature 
of diseases, use the proper and profession- 
ally recognized terms applicable to them as 
best calculated to convey my meaning, 
taking care, however, in the outset, to ex- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 331 

plain why and wherefore these terms are 
used in preference to others, which, to the 
uneducated, may not onl3 r appear strange, 
but are frequently made the subject of 
complaint. It is not, as some imagine, that 
Latin and other classical and ancient lan- 
guages are used by medical writers and 
physicians in the composition of their books 
and in their prescriptions, in order to con- 
ceal from the general reader their purport 
and meaning, but it is because the Latin 
and Greek languages are universal, and 
understood by the learned of all nations ; 
are more expressive, and in their various 
combinations may be made in a single 
word, or term, to express far more to the 
reader than the paucity of our own or any 
modern language will admit of. Thus, this 
very word, Amenorrhoea, derived from the 
Greek, is composed of the privitive A, the 
Greek letters Mu, Eta. Nu, or m. e. n., 
meaning a month, and Rho, Epsiion, Omega, 



332 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

or Eeo ; to flow, from which is formed the 
word we adopt, which means, absence of 
the menstrual flow, and is applied by 
medical men and writers to all cases in 
which the " monthly turn " does not prop- 
erly and regularly make its appearance. 
There are two varieties of this difficulty. 
1. Ketention of Menses, — where the 
catamenia are secreted, but do not escape 
externally. This may arise from what is 
termed occlusion, a closing, or shutting up 
of the vagina (passage to the womb) or 
from an imperforate (unopened) os uteri, 
(the external orifice communicating with 
the vagina). In the latter case an outlet 
must be made for the menstrual accumu- 
lation by very cautiously cutting or punc- 
turing the obstructing membrane. Now 
here is a very, common case, and yet in 
nineteen times out of twenty, where it 
occurs, the poor girl is made to suffer 
untold torments, anxieties and experi- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 333 

merits, at the hands of some ignoramus, 
styling himself a doctor, or some old woman 
famous for making herb tea, and giving 
sweats. I have a letter now before me, 
received within the past twenty-four hours, 
from a young lady, in which she says, " I 
have taken pennyroyal tea, and soaked my 
feet in hot water, until I am tired." Yes, 
and she might have continued to take her 
infusion of pennyroyal and her foot-bath 
to this hour, and no benefit would have 
resulted from it. Nothing short of the 
experienced touch of the surgeon can tell 
what is the difficulty in such a case ; and 
his skilful hand alone can remedy the 
defect. It is sometimes very difficult for 
the most expert operator to detect the 
least spot or dimple marking the site wliere 
the os uteri should exist, in which case it 
becomes necessary to puncture the uterus 
through the rectum ; an operation not en- 
tirely free from danger, and which not one 



334 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

in a hundred " doctors, 77 certainly none of 
the very learned, distinguished " profes- 
sors/ 7 " lecturers/ 7 or " presidents of 
medical societies " (in the moon) know 
how or dare to perform, reckless and irre- 
sponsible as they are. Happily for them, 
and the life of the patient, they very sel- 
dom know or suspect the real difficulty. 
If applied to, they will of course at once 
assert their ability to give relief, and " a 
bottle of medicine " is forthwith directed 
to be used, " a teaspoonful three times a 
day.' 7 It may be as inert as water, or it 
may be as poisonous as lead ; in either case 
it does no good, and the poor victim of de- 
ception, after expending, perhaps, her last 
dollar, is given over to get past her trouble 
as best she can. The efforts of nature, 
with increasing years, may bring her relief, 
but ere that time arrives, life will have be- 
come a burden, or consumption, decline, or 
albuminaria will have done their fatal work. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 335 

Parents, guardians, teachers, young ladies 
yourselves, heed lny solemn admonitions, 
— your life is in danger; trust to no doubt- 
ful remedy, no palliative nostrum, no inex- 
perienced hand to divert you from a reso- 
lute application to tried, trusted and ack- 
nowledged skill, where alone you can obtain 
relief. It has been my good fortune to be 
repeatedly called upon in these cases, and 
I have never yet failed readily to detect 
the obstruction, and to perform a satisfac- 
tory and permanent cure. A little nursing 
and rest, with soothing, anodyne medicines, 
soon brings up the patient, perfect, happy 
and well, to go on her way rejoicing. 



336 MEDICAL ADVISER, 



CHAPTER VI. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES HEALTHY MENSTRUATION, 
SUPPRESSION AND IRREGULARITY, — CAUSES, 
PECULIARITIES, — - PALLOR, — WAXY AP- 
PEARANCE OF THE SKIN, REMEDIES AND 

PRESCRIPTIONS,— GOOD ADVICE. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE MENSES.— 
This may occur at any time, from their 
first exhibition, until what is termed the 
" change in life/ 7 when it ceases altogether. 
1 need not remind the reader that when 
this change takes place, the ability of the 
female to conceive exists no longer. 

In order to make this part of my subject 
clear, and to relieve any possible anxieties 
in regard to what constitutes a normal and 
healthy menstruation, I deem it proper to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 337 

state that it should be a painless, uncoagu- 
lated flow, returning at intervals of about 
four weeks, lasting three, four, five or six 
days, and requiring the use of not more 
than three, or at the farthest, four napkins 
in the twenty-four hours. It may be scanty 
or profuse, and painful, or not, without re- 
gard to quantity. If the flow falls short of 
three days duration, it may be called scanty. 
If it continues longer than six or seven 
days, it may be profuse, but not always so. 
It may be very abundant, and last but two 
or three clays ; and again, it may continue 
twelve or fifteen days, and be very scanty, 
requiring not more than one napkin in the 
twenty-four hours. The explanation of 
either of these conditions will generally be 
found in some organic deviation from a 
normal, or natural state. According to 
modern views, and the opinions of those 
supposed to be the most learned upon the 
subject, the menstrual fluid is not a secre- 



338 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

tion merely, but an exudation of blood 
from the lining membrane of the cavity of 
the uterus, or womb, and acquires its pe- 
culiar qualities by admixture with the 
secretions of the cervix (neck) and vagina 
(passage way) of the womb, as it passes 
outwards. 

We often see menstruation so scanty, 
that it lasts but a day, or a day and a half, 
one napkin having perhaps sufficed for the 
whole time; under such circumstances, 
there may be, and probably is, defective 
ovulation, that is, a defective formation of 
the ova, or egg, which constitutes the germ 
of procreation, or the object to be impregnat- 
ed by the male semen, in the act of coition, 
in order to produce conception. That men- 
struation is a sign of ovulation or capacity 
to conceive is quite certain, the one taking 
place when the other begins, and ceasing 
when it stops. With ovulation the uterus 
becomes suddenly developed in size, and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 339 

the fit receptacle of a new being. With 
the change of life, we find it gradually re- 
turning to the diminutive proportions that 
it had before puberty. Thus. much I deem 
it proper to explain to my readers, so that 
they may understanding^ enter with me 
upon that branch of our subject now under 
consideration. 

Suppression of the menses is the most 
common form of amenorrhoea, and occurs 
when the flow having been once properly 
established, and having appeared regularly 
for a longer or. shorter time, becomes pre- 
maturely arrested. This may occur sud- 
denly, while the discharge is on, in conse- 
quence of some mental shock, or excite- 
ment, excessive fatigue, the setting-in of 
some acute disease, the development of 
phtisis (consumption) or simply from ex- 
posure to damp and cold. Again, it may 
take place gradually ; the flow not returning 
at a proper time, or becoming less and less 



340 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

for several periods, and then entirely stop- 
ping. Whilst there is more constitutional 
disturbance in the abrupt than in the grad- 
ual suppression, the latter is most to be 
feared, as it is often indicative of more 
serious causes, which require immediate 
looking after. Of these, anoemia; poverty, 
or deficiency of blood, is the most frequent. 
This condition is shown by the pale, waxy, 
blanched appearance of the skin, lips, and 
mucous membranes generally. The pulse 
becomes feeble and rapid, loss of appetite, 
a puffing bellows sound from the chest, a 
crackling sound in the jugular veins, 
attacks of fainting, palpitation of the heart, 
gradual loss of flesh, and wasting away, 
dropsical effusions into the pleura, etc., 
etc. Here the suppression is, as you 
perceive, a symptom merely, and we 
are to direct our attention, not so much 
to the stoppage, as to find out the cause 
of it. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 341 

I need not say that no condition of ill- 
health, or functional derangement, more 
imperatively demands the careful examina- 
tion of a good physician, than the first 
admonitions of amenorrhoea, and there is 
hardly any disease of the young woman 
less properly attended to. Inexperienced 
in these difficulties, she does not, at first, 
realize the danger of her condition. 
Timidity, bashfulness, and a fear of ex- 
posure or something awful, restrains her 
from making her trouble known, and she 
imprudently rushes to the first suggested 
means of relief, in the shape of tonics and 
stimulants, some of which are of a charac- 
ter as absurd and ridiculous as the sources 
from which she obtains her knowledge of 
them, are ignorant, unreliable, and often- 
times superstitious. Decoctions of rusty 
nails, and roots and herbs, gathered at 
certain phases of the moon, with now and 
then some solemn incantation or charm 



342 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

added, constitute the elixir vitge which is 
to restore her to health. Were these foolish 
practices confined only to the simple and 
uneducated, I might less pointedly allude 
to them; but strange as it may appear, 
hundreds and thousands of young women, 
whose early advantages and education 
would lead us to expect better things of 
them, are as ready to dabble in these 
senseless experiments, as are the ignorant 
and less cared for. There are many very 
simple, safe and effectual remedies which 
may be resorted to in the absence of 
medical advice, but only until the trusted 
physician can be consulted. If the patient 
be of full habit, inclined to fleshiness and 
plethora, preparations of Nitric acid, 
Sennse, and Taraxacum will be found very 
useful, in the following proportions : — 

R. Acidi Nitrici Diluti, half a fluid 
drachm. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 343 

Spiritus iEtheris Nitrosi, two fluid 

drachms. 
Succi Taraxaci, half a fluid ounce 
Tinct. Sennae, four fluid ounces. 
Inftisi G-entianaa, compositi ad, eight 
fluid ounces. 
Mix, and take one-sixth part twice or 
thrice daily ; or, in case a laxative is 
required : — 

R. Vini Aloes, two fluid drachms. 

Infusi Sennas, fourteen fluid drachms, 
Magnesia Sulphatis, half an ounce. 
Mix. Half of this mixture to be taken 
about seven o'clock in the morning, and 
the remainder two hours after breakfast, 
if required ; or, if a drastic purgative is 
needed : — 

R. Pilulse G-ambogia Compositaa, five 
grains. 
PilulseHydrargyri, three grains. 
Make two pills, to be taken night and 



344 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

morning, or where the amenorrhoea is 
dependent upon simple atony, or sluggish- 
ness of the uterine organs, a stimulant 
emenagogue may be taken, composed of: — 

R, Extracti Ergotse, three fluid drachms. 

Tinctura Serpentaria, six fluid dra 7 ms. 

Decocti Aloes Composti ad., eight 
fluid ounces. 
Mix. Take one-sixth part early every 
morning ; or, where the menstrual flow is 
scanty and the liver sluggish : — 

R. Podophyli Resinse, three grains. 

Extracti Hyoscyami, twenty-four grs. 

Pillules Aloes and Myrrhas, thirty 
grains. 
Mix, and divide into twelve pills. One to 
be taken at bedtime, for three or four 
nights in succession; or, where there is 
only slight delay in the appearance of the 
menses, without any uncomfortable sensa- 
tion or pain, they may often be expedited by 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 345 

R. Boracis, sixty grains* 

Tincture Ergotae, four fluid drachms. 

Aquas Cinnamoni, eight fluid ounces. 
Mix, and take one-sixth part three times a 
day. All the above prescriptions are 
perfectly safe, and are such as would be 
recommended by the best physicians. 
They should be carefully copied, and when 
occasion requires, put up by competent 
apothecaries. In no case can they do 
harm, if properly used, and may prove the 
means of preventing much pain and suf- 
fering. If relief is not obtained by the 
one selected, as an adjunct, hot hip baths, 
soaking the feet in hot water, warm 
poultices to the breasts, may be added. 
Should the patient be of rather a relaxed 
habit, thin in flesh, weak and feeble, then 
a more tonic and stimulating treatment 
may be resorted to. Preparation of steel 
and aloes, steel and ammonia, quinine and 
steel, steel and pepsine, spirit of Juniper 



346 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and acid tartrate of potassse, oil of Juniper, 
iodide of iron, oil of rue, and ergot of rye, 
valerianate of steel, savin and assafoetida, 
aided in their operation by foot baths, 
very nourishing food, brandy, gin, and 
wines. Some of the following recipes may 
be selected, and almost any intelligent 
girl will be able to choose that best 
adapted to her case. Here I must be 
allowed to repeat, that, in giving you 
these prescriptions, it is not in order to 
enable you to get rid of consulting your 
physician, or to escape the expense of a 
shilling, by doctoring yourself. You must 
have learned, if you have attentively read 
the preceding pages, that, although I have 
endeavored to make my instructions so 
plain and simple, that a child need not 
mistake them ; yet, the complications and 
difficulties attendant upon, and to be 
feared from, all these unusual and abnor- 
mal conditions of the female generative 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 347 

and excretive organs are not to be 
lightly tampered with, nor experimented 
upon, by the unskilled and inexperienced. 
Many an old woman's famous panacea, 
upon the virtues of which she has built no 
small reputation for wonderful skill, and for 
being such a " good hand in sickness," has 
done irreparable injury, and made invalids 
valetudinarians for life, where a careful 
examination, and a few simples, prescribed 
by a scientific doctor, would have averted 
years of suffering, or, perhaps, an early 
grave. 

Prescriptions for Amenorrhea, etc. 
Steel and Aloes. 

R. Ferri Sulphatis Granulate, 2 grains. 

Pilulse, Aloes and Myrrh, 3 grains. 
Make a pill, to- be taken after each meal. 
Observe, that the above quantities com- 
prise only sufficient for one pill of five 
grains : calculate how many pills you are 



348 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

likely to want ; thus, if you think you need 
to take the medicine for two, three, or five 
days, reckon the number of pills for one 
day (three) by the number of days you think 
you may require them ; thus, for one day's 
use, three pills would take six grains of the 
granulated Sulphate of Iron, and nine 
grains of the powdered aloes and myrrh ; 
for two days, six pills ; three days, nine 
pills, and so on. 

Where there is much debility, constipa- 
tion, or hypochondriasis, what is called 
" Griffith's Mixture/' with aloes, is found 
very beneficial. The recipe is as fol- 
lows : — 

R. Misturse Ferri Composite, Decocti 
Aloes Compositi, aa. four fluid oz. 
Zinci Sulphas, twelve grains. 
Mix. Take one-sixth part twice a day. 

Steel and Ammonia. 
R. Ferri Tartarati, 60 grains. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 349 

Spiritus Amrnonise, Aromatici, three 

fluid drachms. 
Infusi Quassias, eight fluid ounces. 
Mix. Take one-sixth part three times a day. 

Quinine and Steel. 
R. Quinine Sulphatis and Ferri Sulphatis, 
of each twelve grains. 
Liquoris Strychnise, thirty drops. 
Acidi Sulphurici Aromatici, one-and-a- 
half fluid drachms. 
Infusi Qassise, eight fluid ounces. 
Mix. Take one-sixth part three times a 
day. 
Note. The black stools which are pass- 
ed, while any preparation of steel is being 
taken, should occasion no alarm. This 
color is owing to the combination of the 
metal, with part of the sulphur of the food, 
forming sulphuret of iron. 

Where there is considerable debility, 
with irritability of the nervous system, 
take : — 



350 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

R. Quiniae Sulphatis and Perri Sulphatis 
Exsiccatas, each twenty grs. 
Extracti Hyosciamus, thirty grains. 
Make a mass and divide into twelve pills. 
Let one be taken twice a day. 
Where there is much exhaustion, with a 
weak and irritable stomach, an excellent 
tonic is made by 

R. Ferri et Quiniae Citratis, thirty grs. 
Tincturse Chiratse, one-and-a-half fluid 
drachms, added to eight fluid ounces 
of water. 
Dose, one-sixth part three times a day. 

If the above preparation is too bitter to 
be agreeable, Tincture of Columbo may be 
substituted for the Chiretta. 

Steel and Pepsine. 
R. Ferri Redacti, thirty-six grains. 
Pepsinse Porci, thirty-six grains. 
Zinci Phosphatis, eighteen grains. 
Glycerine sufficient to make a mass, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 351 

divide into twenty-four pills, take two every 
day at dinner. 

Juniper, and Acid Tartrate of Potash. 
R. Spiritus Juniperi, two fluid drachms. 

Potassse Tartratis Acidas, one ounce. 

Decocti Scoparii, twelve fluid ounces. 
Mix, and take one-sixth part three times 
daily. This is a most excellent diuretic 
and laxative. 

A very common, and with some, a favorite 
remedy in cases of obstruction, suppression, 
or retention of the menses, arising from 
slight, or temporary causes, where there is 
no very sensible disturbance of the general 
health, is what is known by druggists as 
" Dewees 7 Tincture of Guaiacurn." It may 
be taken morning, noon and night, in doses 
of a teaspoonful, in a little sweetened milk, 
and sometimes in a little Madeira, Sherry, 
or Tenneriffe wine. It is sometimes ne- 
cessary to continue the medicine for some 



352 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

weeks, on which occasion the dose should 
be judiciously increased. 

Where there is general debility, The 
Volatile Tincture of Guaiacum and Copaiba 
may be used with great benefit. 

R. Tincturse Guaiaci Ammoniata3, one fluid 
ounce. 
Copaibse, half a fluid ounce. 
Mix. Dose, a teaspoonful two or three 
times a day. 

The well-known Tincture of Heira Picra 
is a most popular and most efficient remedy 
in suppressed menstruation. It may al- 
ways be found at the druggists. The dose 
is a teaspoonful three times a day, in sugar 
and water. 

The foregoing formulae comprise all the 
active remedies I consider necessary to 
recommend under this particular head. 
Amenorrhoea, or suppression of the monthly 
flow, is so often dependent upon so many, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 353 

slight and transient causes, that, unless 
there arise very serious symptoms, no 
undue alarm should be felt ; apprehension 
and anxiety will only aggravate the evil, 
and postpone favorable symptoms, likely 
to result from the natural struggles for 
relief. As a cause of suppression, or rather 
cessation of menstruation for the time 
being, I need not say that, a state of preg- 
nancy affords a complete explanation ; and 
it is well for every lady carefully to re- 
member, if suffering, whether or not she 
has been exposed to being put in that con- 
dition. If she has, then the unguarded 
use of any of the medicines I have named, 
or indeed of any others, would be highly 
injudicious. To such as have the means in 
money and time, travel, with an occasional 
tarry at some of the medicinal springs, 
where the waters are alkaline, saline and 
tonic, and where agreeable society, and 
rational amusements may serve to unbend, 



354 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

as well as cheer the mind, and divert it 
from dwelling too seriously upon the infir- 
mities of the flesh ; will be found a pow- 
erful auxiliary in restoring to a healthy 
tone and regularity the monthly period, so 
absolutely essential to the health, beauty 
and happiness of the sex. 

I do not think it necessary to protract 
my observations upon this subject. For 
all ordinary cases, the directions I have 
given, with the remedies suggested, will 
be found ample and reliable, until such 
time as proper medical advice and assis- 
tance can be obtained. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 355 



CHAPTER VII. 

MENORRHAGIA, OR PROFUSE AND UNNATURAL 
MENSTRUATION, CAUSES SOMETIMES OB- 
SCURE AND DIFFICULT TO BE ASCERTAINED, 
— SYMPTOMS, — DANGER OF MISTAKES IN 
DIAGNOSIS, — CAUTIONS, NATURAL IN- 
STINCTS NOT RELIABLE, — WHY, SCIENCE 

THE ONLY TRUE GUIDE, TREATMENT OF 

MENORRHAGIA, RECIPES, DIET, MEN- 
TAL AGITATIONS, ETC., — USEFUL SUGGES- 
TIONS. 

HAVING disposed of the subject of 
Amenorrhcea, as the first in order, 
and the most common of those menstrual 
difficulties to which the sex are liable, I 
proceed in the next place to consider the 



356 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

opposite condition, known by the technical 
name of 

Menorrhagia, 

signifying profuse, abnormal, or unnatural 
increase of the catamenial discharge. Each 
individual may safely be supposed, from a 
knowledge of her usual condition at her 
monthly periods, to be able to judge 
whether she is undergoing, to the detri- 
ment of her health, such a profuse discharge 
as to create alarm, or call for the interpo- 
sition of medical or surgical remedies ; for 
this difficulty is as likely to require both 
as one of these aids. 

The causes of menorrhagia are very 
numerous, and some of them so obscure 
and difficult to ascertain, that it may 
require the utmost skill of the surgeon to 
detect them. Tuberculosis, which may 
set in at any period of life, is most fre- 
quently an exciting cause. The liability 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 357 

to it is greatest between the ages of 
eight and fifteen, and between eighteen 
and forty. Its symptoms are dyspepsia, 
with difficulty of assimilating sugar and 
fat; acid eructations, heart-burn, flatulence, 
paleness, and a sense of coldness of the 
body, swelling of the abdomen, puffiness 
of the face, with swelling of the lips and 
nostrils, purulent discharges from the ear, 
pimply eruptions about the head, enlarge- 
ment of the tonsils and glands of the 
neck, disagreeable exhalations from the 
skin, and especially from the feet and 
armpits ; feebleness, with rapidity of pulse, 
general debility, gradual loss of weight, 
etc. Bright's disease of the kidneys, 
affections of the spleen ; in case of mater- 
nity, excessive suck by the child, trouble 
or excitement from any cause, at or about 
the monthly period, too frequent and ex- 
cessive sexual intercourse. It may also 
arise from metritis, or inflammation of the 



358 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

substance of tho unimpregnated womb, a 
disease which may set in suddenly, but 
commonly comes on gradually. The s} T mp- 
toms of which are, first, a sense of fulness, 
weight and heat about the j:>elvis, (the 
lower portion of the chest which bounds 
and supports the abdomen,) throbbing, 
with tenderness of the pubes, (surrounding 
the private parts usually covered by hair,) 
irritability of the bladder, nausea and 
vomiting, diarrhoea, with a constant desire 
to go to stool, followed by great straining 
but no discharge. These symptoms are 
supplemented, after the first day or two, 
by acute paroxysms of uterine pain, a 
mucous, and sometimes bloody, discharge, 
not catamenial, occurs. In such cases, 
abscesses are apt to form in the uterine 
tissues, or dangerous inflammation may set 
in, involving the pelvic areolar tissue, or 
fatal grangrene may supervene. Any of 
these indications may be sufficient to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 359 

account for the excessive menstruation to 
which they may give rise. And who of 
you, my gentle readers, will be able to 
point out the immediate cause of the 
trouble ? You may well be appalled at 
the intricacies and dangers of the field 
you attempt to explore, when in secret 
you take counsel only of yourselves ; per- 
haps, resort to some old woman's remedy 
for relief, or, are resolved to seek, in some 
blind alley, the medical assistance of an 
obscure charlatan, who, when once you 
cross his threshold, regards you as his 
prey, and you are toted on, and on, so long 
as you can furnish a single dollar to feed 
his remorseless cupidity. 

In case fatal gangrene does not cut 
short the trouble with the life of the 
sufferer, the chances are that, what is 
termed hypertrophy or excessive growth, 
thickening or enlargement of the uterus, or 
hardening of the labia, or abrasions of the 



360 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

parts ; accompanied by leucorrhoea, (the 
whites) may take place, to the permanent- 
discomfort or injury of the individual. 

Now, here I have been describing thus 
particularly a disease far back of the 
immediate menstrual trouble, of which it 
may be the exciting cause, but so hidden 
behind the apparent difficulty, that neither 
the patient nor her friends can detect it. 
Symptoms are doctored and prescribed 
for, whilst the real cause remains un- 
reached and untouched, to continue its 
destructive work. How important it is 
then, that, in all these cases, no blind or 
hap-hazard treatment be adopted, and none 
other than the most skilful and experienced 
be allowed, first to investigate, and then 
prescribe what should be done. Hun- 
dreds of young women annually present 
themselves to me for advice and treat 
ment, whose constitutions are weakened 
for life, simply because of maltreatment at 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 361 

some former period, under the direction 
of some quack, or a thoughtless resort to 
some favorite nostrum, recommended by 
some friend who " has been just so/ 7 and 
who has experienced great benefit from 
the use of it. 

Nature has so ordained it that every 
creature should possess some instinctive 
faculty, enabling it to discover, when it is 
suffering, even if it be painless, from any 
derangement, or abnormal condition of any 
of the functions of their various organs, 
whether of the senses or other faculties ; 
yet nature has not made any provision by 
which the brute creation are enabled to 
find out the seat of their disease and 
supply themselves with the means of self- 
cure in all cases. Hence, the animal, 
when overtaken by endemial or epidemical 
diseases, most generally succomb to them. 
In the treatment of the diseases of those 
animals, domesticated and trained for the 



362 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

use of man, it has been found that human 
science alone can be depended upon to 
successfully combat the various forms of 
disease to which they are at all times 
liable; and farriery and veterinary surgery 
has become an art, requiring skill, study, 
and scientific attainments of no mean 
degree, in order to enable their professors 
to attain to success and competence in the 
business. If, then, horses, cattle, dogs, even 
singing birds, are found dependant upon 
science for their relief from the attacks of 
disease, how much more does woman, — the 
creature of civilization, habit, fashion, and 
a thousand other unnatural circumstances 
and conditions, in every untoward event, 
implicating her health, need the most 
prompt assistance of every available re- 
source which science has been able to 
discover. 

In the treatment of menorrhagia, of 
course, the first thing to be ascertained is 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 363 

to what cause it is to be attributed. If 
upon careful examination, no congenital or 
organic difficulty is found, nor symptoms 
indicative of disease having its seat in the 
surrounding viscera, then we fairly attri- 
bute it to local and transitory causes, to be 
treated by direct applications. For this, 
preparations of astringents will be found 
the most effectual. Gallic acid, cinnamon, 
sulphuric acid, — either remedy alone, or 
in combination, will be found very useful. 
E. Gallic Acid, fifteen to twenty-five grs. 

Aromatic Sulphuric Acid, twenty-five 
to thirty drops. 

Tincture of Cinnamon, two fluid 
drachms. 

Pure Water, two fluid ounces. 
Mix, and make a draught to be taken every 
four hours, until the flow ceases ; or, a 
more simple mixture : — 
R. Tincture of Cinnamon, six fluid 
drachms. 



364 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Diluted Nitric Acid, two fluid dra'ms. 
Mix. Dose, thirty drops in a wine-glassful 
of water every two hours ; or the following, 
more simple still: — 

R. Tincture of Cinnamon two fluid oz. 

Cinnamon Water, one fluid ounce. 
Make a draught, to be taken thrice daily. 
This may be mixed as needed ; the above 
constitutes one dose. 

A still more active astringent is found 
in: — 

R. Ammonia Sulphate of Iroiv thirty to 
sixty grains. 
Distilled, or pure Rain Water, eight 
fluid ounces. 
Mix, and take one-sixth part every six or 
eight hours. 

In the above recipe, I have given from 
the smallest to the largest quantity of the 
Ammonia Sulphate of Iron, as to the pre- 
cise quantity, being governed by age, etc. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 365 

Preparations of turpentine, Indian hemp, 
acetate lead, oxide of silver, arsenic, etc., 
are often found necessary, but should not 
be resorted to except under the immediate 
direction of the attending physician ; 
therefore I do not give any formula for 
them, because I do not wish to trust them 
in unskilful and inexperienced hands. 
There are, however, various local remedies 
almost always accessible, which may be 
used with much advantage, such as an 
application of ice over the pubes, intro- 
duction of ice into the vagina3, vaginal 
injections of tannic acid, plugging the 
os uteri with sponge, carefully shaped, 
by cutting it into a tap like form 
about the size and shape of the 
two lower joints of the little finger. Cot- 
ton wool may be substituted in case of 
emergency. Cold water injections up the 
rectum, is often found a powerful acces- 
sory towards stopping the effusion. And 



366 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

with all, quiet, and a recumbent position 
should be maintained, so far as circum- 
stances will admit. The diet should be 
simple, except in cases where there is 
much debility, when, of course a more 
tonic and stimulating one should be used, 
such as a bit of roast or broiled beef, beef 
tea, stale bread with black tea, and other 
diluent drinks. But observe, that I am 
now directing the course of treatment in 
case of simple menorrhagia ; not flooding, 
caused by metritis, nor uterine hemorrhage, 
which is caused by cancerous affection of 
the uterus, fibroid tumors, or polypi, in- 
flammatory diseases of the neck of the 
womb ; any and all of which are liable, and 
may be, by some imprudent act of violent 
exertion, lacerated and set to bleeding 
more easily at this time than any other. 

Whilst upon this subject, I may as well 
observe that, a free discharge of blood, 
unmixed with mucous or other matter, at 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 367 

any time during the menstrual period, 
where there is menorrhagia, should always 
be regarded with interest and care, and 
the attending physician at once notified 
of the occurrence. It is not a matter that 
need create serious alarm, as it is often 
indicative of nature's successful efforts to 
overcome obstructions hitherto painful and 
dangerous ; but it needs careful watching, 
so that it be not diverted to injurious 
results. The danger chiefly to be appre- 
hended in this and similar manifestations, 
is from the too officious counsels and 
interference of associates and confidants, 
who always stand ready with some favorite 
styptic, or other remedy, the virtues of 
which they alone thoroughly understand. 
Agitation and anxiety, sometimes amount- 
ing to absolute fear and dread of imminent 
danger, is not uncommon with those per- 
sons of an exceeding sensitive and nervous 
temperament ; to such, I cannot too fully 



368 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

impress upon them the absolute import- 
ance of quiet, cleanliness, and entire 
confidence in the positive ability of medi- 
cal and surgical skill, to carry them safely 
through the crisis. 

In the absence of a medical attendant, 
with this treatise before them, no intelligent 
female can fail to find, in the carefully 
selected prescriptions I have given, some 
one adapted to her case, and which may 
safely be adopted for the time, until a 
satisfactory exploration by the speculum 
may be had, to make " assurance doubly 
sure/ 7 as to her precise condition. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 369 



CHAPTER VIII. 

INTRODUCTION TO A DESCRIPTION OF THE 
FEMALE SEXUAL ORGANS, — OF WHAT 
THEY CONSIST, — HOW NAMED, — THEIR LO- 
CATION AND USES, THEIR TECHNICAL AND 

FAMILIAR NAMES, — INFORMATION AND SUG- 
GESTIONS NECESSARY TO A CORRECT UN- 
DERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT, — COUNSELS. 

I THINK I have said enough upon the 
usual and ordinary cases arising under 
the foregoing division of our subject, to 
]eave it to the sound discretion and judg- 
ment of my readers, and to proceed now 
to a consideration of those forms of it, 
complicated, and rendered really serious 
by malformations of the parts requiring 



370 MEDICAL ADVISEE. 

not only consummate skill and experience 
for their detection, but the nicest surgical 
dexterity for their proper management in 
securing for the patient even a bearable 
degree of moderation and relief from the 
tortures she may be called upon to suffer. 
I am aware that in performing this part of 
my task, I may place in the hands of some 
a means of self-infliction, but I do not so 
design it. My aim is to benefit, and if my 
reader is conscious that she has not the 
courage to be fully informed about herself, 
she had better close the book, as well as 
her eyes, to a further contemplation of 
these interesting and important subjects. 
As I do not fancy, nor approve of the intro- 
duction of plates into a book of this kind, 
with a view to an illustration of the text, I 
purpose to make the subject of the form, 
structure, uses, functions, normal and ab- 
normal conditions of the sexual and gene- 
rative organs, as plain and simple as un- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 371 

technical language will efiable me to do ; 
and for that purpose I now ask your atten- 
tion to a brief anatomical description, 
which will very much facilitate your un- 
derstanding of what I deem it necessary to 
say when endeavoring to explain to you 
those congenital, vaginal, and uterine mal- 
furmations and difficulties to which I have 
alluded, and which are the causes of nine- 
teen-twentieths of all the trouble, inconve- 
nience, pain, suffering and danger to which 
the sex are liable, and subjected to in per- 
forming their part in the great drama of 
life, and its offices, duties and responsibili- 
ties which nature has assigned to them. 
One of the very first awakening instincts 
of girlhood is that of her interesting rela- 
tion to the opposite sex in the propagation 
of the human species. Long before she 
can sustain her own weight, or her 
thoughts find utterance in speech, her 
fondness for her rag-baby and doll is but 



372 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

the promptings of nature, which, uncon- 
sciously to herself, distinctly indicates the 
great design of Infinite Wisdom in her 
creation ; and just so surely and unerringly 
as the newly born babe finds its way to its 
mother's breast, and untaught, at once 
knows how to draw its sustenance from 
that maternal fount, so, with progressing 
and increasing strength and years, it grad- 
ually acquires an insight into the uses and 
purposes of its wonderful organization. 

Under the generic term of sexual or- 
gans, I shall include all, that participate in 
the functions of micturation, menstruation, 
coition, ovulation, conception, pregnancy, 
and parturition, endeavoring to give to 
the reader such a plain, yet accurate idea 
of each of all those parts which go to make 
up the distinctive sexual characteristic, as 
that, in reading what is yet to follow, there 
may be neither confusion or mistake. 
We will consider the female organs of gen- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 373 

eration after the age of puberty, in their sev- 
eral parts, as divided into the external and 
internal. The internal is contained within 
the pelvis, or that part of the body 
forming the lowest part of the trunk. 
Its lining and boundaries are the same in 
both sexes. In the female, its contents 
are the bladder, vagina, uterus with its 
appendages, and the rectum. In scientific 
anatomy these several parts are, for the pur- 
poses of professional study, usually consid- 
ered from the interior outward, but for more 
familiar explanation to you, I shall, as the 
most simple, commence with the exterior, 
as the more visible and tangible ; thence 
following the natural openings, until you 
are made passably familiar with the struc- 
ture, connections, and uses of the seve- 
ral parts, so far as is necessary for you 
to understand them, to aid in their pro- 
tection, and preservation in a perfect state 
of health. Proceeding in this order, wo 



374 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

first come to the " Mons veneris" This 
is the crown, or eminence of integument, 
situated just above the opening upon the 
front of the ossa pubis; bones, which consti- 
tute its framework and support. Its sub- 
stance is composed of fatty tissue, and its 
surface covered with hairs. Below this, 
and running perpendicularly in a line to- 
wards the anus, are the Labia majora, or 
larger lips. They enclose an elliptical 
figure, constituting the common urinary 
opening, called The vulva. The vulva re- 
ceives in its inferior, or lower opening 
the urethra, or urinary duct, and the vagina, 
or conduit to the uterus, or womb ; and is 
bounded anterially by what is termed the 
Commissural superior fi and posterially by 
the Commissura, infer ior\. Stretching 
across this upper connection is a small, 
transverse§ fold, the Frcenum labiorem, or 

* Joining together, f Upper. J Lower. § Crosswise. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 375 

fourchette,* which is ruptured during 
childbirth ; and just within this fold is a 
small cavity, called the Fossa navicularis, 
from its boat-shaped form. As the term 
perineum may occur in. the course of this 
description, or elsewhere, when treating 
upon these matters, I may as well say 
now, that it consists of that part situated 
between the lower, or posterior commis- 
sure joining and the anus, and is usually 
not more than an inch across. The outer 
surface of the labia is covered with hairs ; 
the inner surface is smooth, and lined by 
mucous membrane. The use of the labia 
majora is to assist the extension of the 
vulva during childbirth ; for, in the passage 
of the head of the child, the labia becomes 
entirely unfolded, and for the time, effaced. 
The Labia minor a, \ or nymphse, are two 
smaller folds situated within the labia majo- 

* Fork, or lower joining of the labia majora. f Smal- 
ler lips. 



376 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ra. Above, they are divided into two pro- 
cesses which surround the glans clitoridis, 
the upper fold forming the preputium* cli- 
torides, and the lower one its frcenulerrij or 
bridle. 

The Nymplice, consist of mucous mem- 
brane, covered by a thin skinny formation, 
and are provided with a number of glands 
which secrete and exude an oily, or slimy 
matter, adapted to the healthy lubrication 
of the adjoining parts. They also contain, 
in their interior, a layer of erectile tissue, 
contributing, during the act of coition, by 
its corrugated surface, very much to stim- 
ulate and intensify the intromitant male 
organ. 

The Clitoris , is a small elongated protube- 
rance, situated in front of the ossa pubis,f 



* The foreskin, f The term os, ossa, or ossae, is 
derived from the Latin word, signifying a bone ; hence 
words having os, ossis, osseous, ossify, etc., in their 
compound, have relation, to bone. Os, also means 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 377 

and supported by a suspensory ligament. 
It is formed by a small body, having its 
counterpart in what is termed the corpus 
cavernosum of the male penis, and like it 
arises from the branch of the os pubis 
and the posterior and inferior bone 
of the pelvis, known in anatomy as the 
ischium, to which the French give the 
comprehensive name of os de Vassiette, or 
plate bone. The extremity of the Clitoris 
is called its glans. It is composed of erec- 
tile tissue, enclosed in a dense layer of 
fibrous membrane, and is susceptible of 
very turgid erection. Like the male penis, 
also, it is provided with two small muscles, 
called the erectores clitorides. 

At about an inch beneath the clitoris, 
is the entrance of the vagina, an elliptical 
opening, marked by a projecting margin. 



mouth; this however has for its genitive oris, and 
plural ora, and by its connection cannot be mistaken 
tor the former. 



378 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

This entrance is closed in the virgin by a 
membrane of semilunar* form, which is 
stretched across the opening ; this is the 
hymen. Sometimes the membrane forms 
a complete septum, f and gives rise, as will 
hereafter be explained, to great inconve- 
nience by preventing the escape of the 
menstrual effusion. It is then called an 
inperforate hymen. The apparent condi- 
tion of the hymen is not always a true cri- 
terion by which to judge of the virginity 
of the female, as is commonly supposed; 
for its very existence is, in some cases, ex- 
tremely uncertain. When present, it as- 
sumes a variety of appearances ; it may be 
a membraneous fringe, with a round open- 
ing in the centre, or a semilunar fold, leaving 
an opening in front, or a transverse % septum, 
leaving an opening in front and behind, or a 
vertical § band, with an opening either side, 

* Like a half-moon, f Division. % Crosswise division. 
§ Up and down. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 379 

The rupture of the hymen, in its early 
and youthful existence, gives rise to a 
fringe-like appearance around the opening 
of the vagina ; hence called carunculoe, 
myrtiformes, i.e., like the myrtle leaf. 

At the upper angle of the vagina, is an 
elevation formed by the projection of the 
upper wall of the canal, and immediately 
in front of this and surrounded by it 7 is 
the opening of the urethra, through which 
the urine is thrown off from the bladder. 

For the present we will rest here in 
our description, for the purpose of observ- 
ing that, the parts I have now attempted 
to describe, are those most liable to be, 
and are the most frequently infected by 
the lesser grades of venerial disease, such 
as are communicated by direct contact, 
gonorrhcea t urethetis, gleets and many 
other forms of purulent, irruptive and 
distressing complaints which, enveloped 
and concealed in this wonderful receptacle 



380 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

of many divisions ; must needs, as you see, 
require the most critical skill, and the 
closest scrutiny on the part of the medical 
practitioner, to enable them to detect, 
classify and properly prescribe for them. 
I may here properly add that, these organs 
are liable also, at times, to be more or less 
affected by various disorders, engendered 
by a diseased condition of the deeper and 
more remote organs through sympathy, or 
the corrosive quality of their discharges. 
In all cases of this kind, where some 
simple astringent lotion does not prove 
effectual to allay or remove the irritation 
or eruption, or whatever it may be, in a 
few days, medical advice should at once be 
resorted to. Disease of the kidneys, 
uterus, and the vagina, are all indicated 
by an aciduious condition of the urine, 
producing inflammation of the kind alluded 
to, and unless the individual can at once 
account for the unusual appearance and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 381 

sensation, and feel satisfied that there is 
no cause for serious alarm, she should, 
without delay, seek for better and wiser 
counsels than her own are likely to be. 
From what I have said, it will be seen 
how utterly impossible it is for an inexpe- 
rienced person, unaided by professional 
direction, with any degree of safety, to 
rely upon any superficial appearance or 
examination, when consequences of such 
vital importance depend upon an exact and 
certain diagnosis, only to be had through 
the instrumentality of the competent sur- 
gical examiner, and } r et, ! yet, with all 
this knowledge before you, such of you as 
may need medical assistance will often 
allow the most ignorant, base, and unprin- 
cipled men to direct and impose upon you 
in such indescribably important matters ! 



382 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CHAPTER IX. 

REFLECTIONS, DYSMENORRHEA, — ITS SIGNIFI- 
CATION, ORGANIC DYSMENORRHCEA, — NER- 
VOUS DYSMENORRHEA, — ■ SYMPTOMS, ITS 

GENERAL PREVALENCE, PALLIATIVES, — 

THE REALITY OF THE DISEASE, INTEREST- 
ING LETTER FROM A LADY, IMPORTANCE 

OF A CORRECT DIAGNOSIS, ETC., ETC. 

HITHERTO, in discussing the subject 
of Amenorrhoea we have been guided 
in our remarks on the assumption that 
there is a perfect and normal formation of 
all the parts and organs which we have 
attempted to describe. When this is the 
case, ordinarily, nature uninterfered with, 
performs all her functions easily, and to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 383 

the promotion of the highest health and 
physical well-being of the individual. Un- 
disturbed by painful derangements, or ob- 
structions, she has few incentives for 
prying into the mysteries, or even purpo- 
ses of her organic structure ; content, as 
she may well be, in the language of the 
old adage to " let well enough alone/ 7 Un- 
happily, however, all females cannot claim 
this fortunate exemption from a liability to 
danger and trouble. Not only are they 
frequently made to suffer from the vices 
and follies of those from whom they derived 
their being, but are made the victims of 
distress through a faulty development, 
brought about by inadequate nutrition, 
improper care, inappropriate pursuits and 
occupations, the casualties of life, the de- 
pressing influences of climate, and a thou- 
sand other causes which, more or less im- 
pede and obstruct, or wholly divert and 
destroy the healthy operations of nature. 



384 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Next in order of these troubles of the 
female generative organs is 

Dysmenorrhea. 

This term, derived from the Greek 
Words signifying " difficult, " " monthly," 
" flow," and in our language, more directly 
from the French word Dysmenorrhoe, 
(des-ma-no-ra), simply means difficult men- 
struation. This anomoly in the uterine 
economy may be classified under the 
varieties of organic, nervous, and conges- 
tive. That form which has its origin in 
anatomical and palpable alterations of the 
uterus, is usually designated by the name 
of organic dysmenorrhoea, in distinction to 
that, in which the most careful examina- 
tion cannot perceive any trace of a struc- 
tural defect. It is with this latter we shall 
deal, for the very good reason that, with 
the former no unskilled, or unprofessional 
person can safely interfere. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 385 

Nervous Dysmenorrhea. 

Women affected with this difficulty usu- 
ally present more or less numerous signs 
of great irritation of the entire nervous 
system, or of some portion of it. They 
are generally hysterical; and on close 
observation, it is not difficult to observe in 
them some one ; or all the symptoms of this 
disease. We must not, however limit this 
class of sufferers to delicate, thin, and 
weakly subjects only. ' Every physician 
has had opportunity to observe this ner- 
vous dysmenorrhoea in very stout, robust 
and apparent healthy women of good con- 
stitution. 

The symptoms. usually are as follows : — 
some days previous to the appearance of 
the menses, the lady is apt to evince a sur- 
prisingly bad humor; she becomes down- 
cast and capricious, avoiding company, she 
seeks solitude, and complains of a general 
disturbance, which she cannot clearly de- 



386 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

fine. Afterwards, and in connection with 
various digestive difficulties, such as eruc- 
tations, heart-burn, flatulence, constipation, 
etc., she will complain of headache, often 
confined to one or other side of the head, 
to which is frequently added difficulties of 
eyesight, such as a dread of light, with a 
very large secretion of tears. Gradually, 
intervening painful sensations in the lower 
regions of the abdomen are felt, such as 
draggings, shooting pains, which are lim- 
ited to the uterine region, or spreading 
toward the thighs, the seat, and the loins. 
Very often they also extend to the breasts, 
although with less intensity. The urine 
becomes scanty, straw . colored, alkaline, 
and contains, at a certain period, opaque, 
cloudy and fibrous matter floating in it. 
These symptoms gradually increase, until 
about the appearance of the menstrual 
flow, when they rapidly moderate, and 
cease as soon as the courses are well 



GUIDE TO HEALTH, 387 

established. In some cases we find patients 
who just before were suffering most se- 
verely, become perfectly well some hours 
after the commencement of the menses, 
and are able to apply themselves to their 
domestic affairs, though for some days pre- 
viously this had been completely impossi- 
ble. This distressing form of menstrual 
difficulty is of very common occurrence, 
and prevails, to a much greater extent, 
than is generally supposed, even by medi- 
cal practitioners; and hence in their treat- 
ment of such cases are exceedingly apt to 
exasperate or disgust the patient by ridi- 
culing, or pooh-poohing at their complaints. 
With my long experience and intimate 
knowledge of female peculiarities, I feel 
that I should be guilty of a great impro- 
priety, should I ever do this. Very few 
women complain at such a time, without, 
(to them at least) a good cause for doing 
so, and the well read, even if inexperienced 



388 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

physician should know that all these feel- 
ings and impressions narrated by his 
patient are indicative of uterine distur- 
bances, calling for the exercise of his very 
best care and skill. Organic affections, in 
their incipient stage, may be going on, 
which have escaped the most minute ex- 
ploration ; or, it may be that, this nervous 
form of dysmenorrhoea is passing, by de- 
grees, into the more dangerous congestive 
form, or is indicative of acute, or chronic 
metritis, undue secretions of the uterine 
and vaginal mucous membrane, inflamma- 
tions of the ovaries, etc. I know that with 
the " general run " of doctors the impres- 
sion prevails that medical treatment for this 
class of diseases is entirely useless, and 
that the patient must wait until " the 
change of life " will free her from her 
sufferings. My experience has taught me 
better, and I know that the proper use of 
those medicines, usually called anti-hysteri- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 389 

cal, combined with a suitable action upon 
the blood by a well ordered regimen, 
will have the most happy results. My 
remedies, in all such cases, have always 
been attended with great success, and I 
am rewarded, in very many cases, by an 
inconceivable amount of human suffering 
and apprehension, relieved by their use. 
Until adequate medical advice can be had, 
I would advise topical applications of 
opiated lavements, frictions of the ointment 
of chloroform, or of any other narcotic, 
upon the lower parts of the abdomen, just 
above the pubes ; and pellets of cotton 
wool, saturated with a composition of wax, 
lard, and the extract of morphine, or bella- 
donna, may be introduced into the vagina. 
This treatment may be seconded by the 
use of warm baths, either entire or partial, 
and of warm intra-vaginal injections. In 
some cases of a very obstinate nature, I 
have found very sensible relief, obtained 



390 MEDICAL, ADVISER. 

by a persistent cold water treatment. All 
these applications, however, can only be 
regarded as merely palliative, to be resort- 
ed to as the means of temporary relief only. 
For permanent security against a recur- 
rence of the trouble, perhaps in a more dis- 
tressing and aggravating form, you must 
at once apply to your confidential medical 
adviser. 

Among the many patients I have had 
whose condition excited my liveliest sym- 
pathies, was a lady from a neighboring 
state, who had long been periodically tor- 
tured by the menstrual difficulties now 
under consideration. She had confided 
her case to the customary family physician, 
and had been prescribed for by him to no 
beneficial results. Being a woman of 
inquiring mind, she had sought information 
in books, and of whomsoever amongst her 
female acquaintances she thought likely to 
instruct her. Confused at the multiplicity 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 391 

as well as at the contradictory nature of 
the various suggestions she received, she 
finally concluded to address herself to me. 
Her condition, at this time, will be better 
understood from her own description, in a 
letter addressed to me, substantially as 
follows : — # 

L****** N. H., July 11th, 186* 
Doctor Morrill, 

Sir : In great distress I am at length 
compelled to apply to some one for advice 
and relief. I have been to the doctors in 
this town and neighborhood, and have de- 
rived so little benefit from them that, I 
must try some one who can do something 
for me. You are highly recommended to 
me as fully understanding these delicate 
troubles of females, and I will try to ex- 
plain, or describe my case to you, so that 
3'ou can tell what is best for me to do. I 
am about twenty-five years old, and until 



392 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

within the past six years always lived at 
home, and with some exception, enjoyed 
pretty good health. Soon after I came 
here, and began work in the mill, my health 
began to decline. My principal difficulty 
was at my monthly periods. Although 
never exactly regular, yet I had suffered 
no especial inconvenience from them. 
Shortly after I began work in the mill, 
whether from change in the nature of my 
occupation, confinement to in-door life, the 
steadiness of my labor, or lack of proper 
exercise and air, or other causes, as my 
usual periods came round, I found the 
pain, and depression attending them in- 
crease, until at length I regarded with 
dread and horror the " turns " as they 
approached, each succeeding one becoming 
more dreadful and painful than the last. 
I am frequently attacked with a dizziness 
in the head, and my eyesight almost fails 
me. I continually feel as though I wished 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 393 

to go to stool, and there is a constant bear- 
ing down, with pains, as though I were 
about to pass something extraordinary. 
My appetite is very changeable, and what 
I often longed for becomes offensive when 
obtained. I feel as though everybody 
knew my condition and talked of it, and 
am jealous of all around me, and when I 
add that, to all these feelings I suffer the 
most distressing pains during the time, 
you can, in some degree, imagine my con- 
dition. As I have already stated, this 
state of things has been going on for about 
six years. I get no better, but worse. 
Some months I have to lie by, sometimes 
six or eight days, until I entirely get over 
my trouble. They can do nothing for me 
here, and, as I told you, I am now worse 
off than ever. Will you, doctor, tell me 
what to do, and how I can obtain a perma- 
nent relief from this trouble. If you can, 
I will abundantly reward yon for your 



394 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

services. Please answer this without 
delay. 

Very respectfully, yours, &c. 

There will be no difficulty, even with 
the least experienced reader, to detect in 
this partial and - imperfect description, a 
clear case of nervous dysmenorrhoea. As 
usual in cases of this kind, I felt it ray 
duty to urge upon my correspondent the 
necessity of a personal call upon me that, 
-I might, from an inspection of her personal 
appearance, and apparent characteristics, 
be better able to judge of her condition 
and tendencies, and thus more readily and 
beneficially direct her as to the proper 
means to be taken for her relief. She 
shortly afterwards called upon me at my 
office. Upon examination I found her 
rather slender in form, narrow across the 
upper region of the pelvis, or, more plainly 
speaking, through the hips ; extremely 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 395 

nervous and sensitive to any manipulation 
of the parts; repelling every effort to such 
a vaginal examination as would facilitate 
my endeavors to obtain a satisfactory diag- 
nosis of her case. Limited and superficial 
as my examination was under such obsta- 
cles, I nevertheless satisfied myself that, 
the difficulty was caused by various alter- 
ations in the structure of the uterus, which 
had been going on for some time ; the in- 
cipient stages of which had been developed 
at an early period of her menstrual life, 
and hitherto escaped observation, either 
by herself or medical advisers. In medi- 
cal parlance, her dysmenorrhoea was not 
idiopathic, but sympathetic, the hidden 
cause of which could only be ascertained 
by an exploration of the vagina, uterus, 
and a thorough examination of all the 
organs and viscera leading to, or having 
any connection with the menstrual outlet. 
I allude to this cas'B as a type of many I 



396 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

have frequently met with in my practice ; 
and as a proper one to illustrate the great 
necessity for extreme caution in coming to 
a decision. That, instead of attacking the 
enemy in his citadel and stronghold, and 
thence routing him, " horse, foot and drag- 
oon/ 7 we should be led into the fatal error 
of doctoring s} r mptoms merely, and thereby 
protracting, or at best, only palliating a 
disease which, by proper skill, might be 
permanently arrested. In regard to this 
particular case, I have alluded to it chiefly 
because it combined in itself almost every 
modification of menstrual difficulties, and 
presented obstacles to successful treat- 
ment very seldom met with. Organic, 
nervous, and sympathetic derangements 
and impediments seemed to bristle up on 
all sides as if to defy every effort of medi- 
cal and surgical skill or strategy. Yet I 
did not despair. By a judicious resort to 
moral, as well as therapeutical agencies, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 397 

having reference to both the mind and will 
of my patient, as also to her physical diffi- 
culties, I soon had the satisfaction of 
having her well tinder the control of the 
medical course I found it necessary to 
adopt, after I had succeeded in inducing 
her to submit to the somewhat painful, but 
nice surgical operation required, without 
which, no amount of medication by drugs, 
however persistently administered, could 
have been of the least benefit whatever. 
She is now a well and hearty woman ; 
sound and regular in every respect, and 
bids fair to live as long, and enjoy life as 
well as any of her sex. I have dwelt more 
at length upon this branch of my subject 
than I might otherwise have done, were I 
not sensible that my views in regard to it 
differ very materially from those entertained 
by very many physicians and writers of no 
mean distinction, one of whom, a French 
author, remarks, in his work on The Dis- 



398 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

eases of the Sexual Organs of Women, 
that the cure of this disorder, L e. Nervous 
dymenorrhoea, is always very doubtful, and 
if there are cases where the art of the phy- 
sician may in a little time be triumphant, 
it is still more frequent to see all his efforts 
remain powerless. In view of the fact 
(which can be well attested by hundreds 
of living witnesses) that my method of 
treatment of this distressing form of female 
disease, has been almost invariably success- 
ful, resulting in a perfect and permanent 
cure, as in the case I have named, I 
unhesitatingly re-assert my assurance to 
every sufferer that, she need not despair 
when she finds herself a victim to this com- 
plains/or it is curable. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 399 



CHAPTER X. 

VAGIXAL AND UTERINE EXAMINATIONS, — 

TIMELY HINTS, WHEN NECESSARY AND 

HOW TO BE MADE, RESPONSIBILITIES AND 

LIABILITIES OF THE OPERATOR, LADIES 

GOOD ADVERTISERS, EXPOSURE OP THE 

PERSON NOT NECESSARY, — POINTS TO BE 

NOTED, EXAMINATION WHEN LIMITED TO 

THE TOUCH ONLY, THE SPECULUM, 

WHEN REQUIRED, POSITION, ASSISTANTS, 

OPINION OF A DISTINGUISHED PHYSICIAN, 

— REMARKS. 

IT is highly proper that in this place 
something should be said in regard to 
vaginal and uterine examinations often made 
in the investigation of female complaints, and 



400 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

rendered absolutely necessary in order to 
ascertain the nature of the disease, as also 
to determine upon the proper remedies to 
apply. Of the necessity for making such 
examinations, the physician is, of course, 
regarded as the proper judge, and his 
wishes to that effect, are held decisive. 
The frequency, as well as the facility, with 
which this direction is made and complied 
with, the abuses attending it, the tempta- 
tions and opportunities which it affords to 
cunning and designing men in professional 
garb to accomplish the vilest of purposes, 
leads me to speak of this subject more at large 
than might otherwise appear necessary. 
These vaginal and uterine examinations, real 
or attempted, are, I regret to say, very often 
quite uncalled for, needlessly and wan- 
tonly made by unprincipled and lecherous 
scoundrels, whose proper place would be 
in a penitentiary, rather than in a medical 
office. The frequency and coarse famil- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 401 

iarity with which women, and especially 
young girls are sometimes addressed and 
handled by these satyrs, has done much 
to deter many a sensitive female from 
seeking medical assistance at times when 
absolutely necessary, and induced them to 
bear and suffer, rather than be subjected to 
the coarse manipulations and brutality 
often inflicted by these monsters. It is by 
no means a rare thing to learn from some 
of my female visitors that, on consulting 
such and such a doctor (?) he has taken 
them upon- his knees, and made indecent 
overtures and approaches which should 
consign him to eternal infamy, as well as 
to the State Prison. That this has fre- 
quently been done to artless and innocent 
girls, under the plea of its necessity and 
propriety in a surgical point of view, in 
making a correct diagnosis of their case, 
I am assured, in numerous instances, from 
the testimony of the victims themselves, 



402 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

corroborated by circumstantial evidence , 
too conclusive to be disregarded. And in 
many cases, the parties are well known, 
where, from a patient, the poor girl has 
passed to the condition of mistress, then 
onward to be the mother of the illegitimate 
child of her medical attendant. The 
facility with which all this is accomplished 
by the immense power which the crafty 
and unprincipled practitioner knows so 
well how to establish over his visitor, may 
be easily understood by any one who will, 
for a moment, consider the relative posi- 
tion of the parties, and the circumstances 
which brings her into his presence at all. 
I purpose to give in this chapter such a 
perfect description of how all examinations 
of a delicate character should be con- 
ducted, that, henceforth no one need be 
deceived or imposed upon, or, if such a 
thing be attempted, the patient may be 
able at once to detect and expose the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 403 

threatened assault upon her, and to possess 
herself of a weapon with which she may 
inflict upon her assailant a just and merited 
punishment for his villainy. First, let every 
female remember that, whatever may be 
her condition or calling, or however 
doubtful her reputation, she is always 
under protection of the law, and that, how- 
ever deeply she may have sinned, the 
presumption is always on virtue's side. I 
make these remarks (necessary as I know 
them to be) in order to reassure the unfor- 
tunate that, under no possible condition of 
circumstances need she be afraid to assert 
her rights to the most respectful and tender 
treatment at the hands of her medical 
attendant, whatever may have been her 
antecedents, and however well he may 
have been advised as to her previous his- 
tory. The adulteress, taken in the very 
act, when inquired of " Where are those 
thine accusers? hath no man condemned 



404 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

thee ? " On replying, " No man, Lord," 
was met with the benign response, 
ki Neither do I condemn thee : go and 
sin no more." 

It should be remembered, and always 
acted upon in professional intercourse with 
the sex that, if in reality not strictly chaste, 
they desire to be regarded so in the 
presence of those of whom they seek coun- 
sel ; and charity, if nothing else, should 
lead us to treat them as though they had 
never erred. There is yet another con- 
sideration which may well be remembered 
by the medical practitioner, and one, too, 
which should have no slight influence in 
determining his prospective standing with 
ladies, to whose good opinion he must ever 
be indebted for much of whatever success 
and popularity he may attain in his pro* 
fession. Ladies are good advertisers of a 
physician's merits, as well as of his demer- 
its, and, when combined, can make or mar 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 405 

the fortunes of a young practitioner with 
wonderful celerity and effect. Bearing 
this in mind, let us proceed to detail the 
only proper method of vaginal and uterine 
examinations, so that there may be no 
danger or risk of censure or offence, given 
or received by either physician or patient, 
and that the trials and discomforts attend- 
ing them may be. rendered as endurable 
and painless as the circumstances of the 
case will admit of. 

Every thorough uterine investigation is 
naturally divided into two stages; the first 
requiring the touch, the second the sight ; 
for the first, the patient should lie upon her 
back, and for the other, upon her left side. 
For the touch alone, the patient may lie 
upon a sofa or a bed ; but the former is too 
low, and the latter too soft and yielding 
for an examination by the speculum*. A 

* Surgical instrument for dilating cavities and facili 
tating their examination. 



406 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

common table, two or three feet wide, and 
four or five feet long, covered with a 
wadded quilt, or blankets folded, is by far 
the best couch that can be provided for 
the purpose, readily improvised, and if not 
as ostentatiously ornamental, is far more 
convenient than the costly and clumsy 
" invalid chair " with which physicians 
often, more for show than utility, encumber 
their consultation room. 

The table being properly prepared, the 
patient should be requested to loosen all 
the fastenings of her dress and corsets, so 
that there may be nothing to constrict the 
waist, or compress the abdomen. While 
this is being done, the physician should 
bathe his hands in warm water, and wash 
them well. This should be done not only 
because it softens and warms the hands, 
and insures their cleanliness, but it also 
insures the patient against any dread of 
contamination by the touch, a thing by no 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 407 

means to be despised. Everything being 
thus prepared and ready, the patient 
should be now requested to sit on 
the edge of the table, and then to lie 
down on the back, with the head, but 
not the shoulders, supported by a pillow, 
while the feet rest momentarily upon a 
a chair. 

Some practitioners allow the feet to 
hang down, each on a chair, but this is 
not the best plan for either physician 
or patient, nor is it the most delicate. As 
soon as the patient is laid comfortably 
back on the table, the surgeon will raise 
her feet from the chair upon which he is 
now to sit down, and place them on the 
edge of the table, with the heels separated 
some ten or twelve inches, while the 
knees are a little wider apart. This flex- 
ure of the thighs and legs insures the 
relaxation of the abdominal walls, and may 
prevent any abnormal feeling to the touch 



4:08 MEDICAL ADTISEK. 

in making the examination. The natural 
timidity and nervousness of the patient 
will very frequently, in spite of our 
utmost entreaties or efforts to the contrary, 
impel her to place the soles of her feet 
together, and let her knees fall widely 
apart, while some, again, will unconsciously 
hold the knees closely together, and brace 
the feet firmly outwards, each position 
being equalty opposed to an easy explora- 
tion of the vagina. 

The patient once on the back, with the 
extremities properly placed and fixed, 
must be assured that there is to be neither 
pain nor exposure of person ; neither being 
necessary, and the latter especially to be 
avoided, as uncalled for and unprofessional 
in the highest degree. Everything being 
ready, let the left forefinger be well lubri- 
cated, not with sweet oil, as is too often 
done, nor with any oleaginous substance, 
but with warm water and Castile soap. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 409 

Pass the finger into the vagina, (the parts 
being entirely covered by the down-falling 
nether garment) pass it- gently, or we may 
jar the nervous system, and produce spas- 
modic action of the abdominal muscles, 
and thus render the examination uncertain 
and fruitless. Should the patient become 
restless or alarmed, it may be proper to 
delay a moment or so, or perhaps adjourn 
a very minute examination to some future 
period, when the trepidation and apprehen- 
sions of the patient shall have subsided 
under the influence of rest and reflection. 
But, proceeding with the examination, as 
the finger passes, it should be ascertained 
if there is anything wrong or abnormal 
about the mouth of the vagina. Is it con- 
tracted, rigid? Is the hymen present or 
absent ? Is it irritable or tender ? Then, 
as to the vagina ; does it dip downward, 
or does it run more in the direction of the 
axis of the pelvis ? Is it of normal tern- 



410 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

perature? Is it short? Is it deep? Is 
it narrow? Is it capacious? Does it 
contain any foreign body? If so, is it 
something inorganic previously intro- 
duced ? or ? is it something organic, grow- 
ing on the walls of the vagina, on the 
orifice of the womb? Is the orifice 
(technically called the os tincse) open or 
closed, large or small? Is the neck of the 
womb (the cervix) too long, too pointed, 
too small, too large? Is it indurated 
(hardened) or ulcerated ? Is the body 
of the organ in its proper condition ? Is 
it ante-verted, (inclined forwards) retro- 
verted, (thrown backwards) or in any 
direction ? Is it larger or smaller than 
natural? Is it of the proper form ? Is it 
fixed or moveable ? Is there any compli- 
cation ovarian or fibroid ? 

All these conditions are readily ascer- 
tained by the touch alone. We need no 
speculum or ocular view to assure us, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 411 

after a moment's palpation (feeling) of the 
parts, as to their actual condition, whether 
healthful or diseased. We need no specu- 
lum or other instrument, to tell us of the 
size, positions and relations of the uterus 
and its appendages. 

It may sometimes be necessary, in more 
thorough explorations, to go beyond the 
mere touch of the vagina, and to make 
pressure with the right hand upon the 
abdomen in the hypogastric region, at the 
same time that the left forefinger is 
carried into the vagina. The two hands 
will then act conjointly in ascertaining 
the conditions and relations of the 
uterus. 

Is it in its proper position ? If so, the 
os uteri will rest on the end of the left 
forefinger, while the fundus will be dis- 
tinctly felt by the other hand, in a line 
drawn from the os, in the direction of the 
umbilicus (navel). 



412 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

But let it be remembered that the touch 
by the vagina is not always enough to 
determine this point positively ; and it is 
prudent always to make pressure at the 
same time with the other hand ; just above 
the pubes. It will then be perfectly easy 
to measure the shape and the size of the 
body of the womb, for it will be held 
firmly between the fingers of the two 
hands, and its outline and irregularities 
will be ascertained with as much nicety. as 
if it were outside the body. Thus isolated, 
we may determine its condition as easily 
as we would that of a pear wrapped up in 
a common napkin or towel. 

If the patient be much emaciated, where 
there is nothing abnormal, the external 
fingers and the internal one can be 
brought very near together behind the 
cervix, without pain to her or inconven- 
ience to the operator, and if there is any- 
thing out of the way this manipulation is 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 413 

sure to detect it. By this method, versions, 
flexions, fibroid offshoots, and other irregu- 
larities are readily detected, and if at any 
time there is a doubt about the direction 
or depth of the uterine cavity, the sound* 
will at once clear that up. 

In all vaginal examinations, it matters 
not for what purpose, a speculum should 
never be used until, by the touch first, it 
has been fully ascertained the precise con- 
dition of the uterus and its appendages. 

This injunction should never be disre- 
garded, as, if attempted, the patient may 
justly suspect that she has about her an 
incompetent operator. 

In connection with this subject, I deem 
it proper to add, that in all examinations 
of this kind ? the presence of an assistant, 
Dr third person, is of the utmost impor- 
tance. It often shields the operator from 
any liability to unjust aspersions, and pro- 

* An instrument used for such examinations. 



414 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

tects him from accusations, often made by 
those whose very object is to bring him 
into difficulty, if not to disgrace him. One 
of the most talented and distinguished 
surgeons in this country, whose reputa- 
. tion is world-wide as a most skilful diag- 
nostician and operator in uterine cases, 
remarks, " I insist that a third person 
should always be present on such occa- 
sions. Delicacy and propriety require it, 
and public opinion ought to demand it. I 
do not mean lay, but professional public 
opinion. I never made a vaginal examina- 
tion, or used a speculum a dozen times in 
my life, without the presence of a third 
person. I have never had a patient to 
object, who was educated or sensible ; but 
the silliest person would see the necessity 
of it, when told that propriety demanded it, 
even if an assistant were not necessary. 
The few that have objected to the pres- 
ence of another person in the room at the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH- 415 

time of the speculum examination, have 
done so from the fear of personal exposure. 
We are apt to disregard this innate feeling 
of delicacy when we have been much used 
to hospital practice ; but we can never 
make a mistake, if we always cultivate the 
same gentleness and kindness towards the 
poorest patient that we would use towards 
the highest princess. I repeat, then, that 
we should never on our examinations allow 
any exposure of person, not even in hospi- 
tal practice. When the touch is made, 
there can of course be no necessity for it, 
the patient being upon her back, and 
covered with a sheet. When the speculum 
is used, we should see only the neck of the 
womb ; and the canal of the vagina." (T. 
JIarion Sims, A. B., 31. D., etc.) 

The foregoing will give to the reader a 
pretty correct idea of what an ordinary 
vaginal and uterine examination consists, 
and in what manner it should be made : 



416 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

nor will the process very essentially 
differ from what I have here des- 
cribed, if made under the direction 
of any respectable physician. For all 
ordinary occasions, the recumbent posi- 
tion is the one usually adopted, but 
tl^ere are cases and circumstances, when 
for more critical examinations with the 
speculum, a side recumbent position be- 
comes necessary. As also another, requir- 
ing the patient to rest her weight upon 
the forehead, arms and knees, throwing 
the nates upwards. These positions are 
never ordered, except in the most difficult 
cases, and of course should never be sub- 
mitted to, except under the direction of 
the most respectable, as well as reliable 
medical counsel. But whatever may be 
required of her, the patient should remem- 
ber that it is of the highest importance 
that she should never, for a single moment, 
lose her presence of mind, nor forget her 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 417 

own dignity of person, and the respect and 
tenderness of treatment to which she is 
entitled. She should banish every feeling 
of timidity and fear, and by a perfect 
exhibition of womanliness on her part, 
give assurance to her physician and atten- 
dants, whilst they perform a duty, and a 
service so delicate and necessary, it may 
be, to her whole future of health, happi- 
ness, or life itself. 



418 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CHAPTER XL 

CONTINUATION OF ADVICE TO YOUNG LADIES, 
— INTERESTING DIGRESSION IN RELATION 
TO MALE ASSOCIATES, — PLACES OF AMUSE- 
MENTS, THE THEATRE, DANCE HOUSES, 

SOCIABLES, AND PUBLIC DANCING HALLS, 

• IT IS THE FIRST 
■WHERE WIVES ARE 
NOT SOUGHT AFTER, AND WHERE THEY ARE, 
WHY, CONCLUSION TO YOUNG LADIES. 

IT will be seen that in the preceding 
description of the female generative 
organs, I have confined myself exclusively 
to those easily accessible to the touch and 
sight. Those more remote, and not at all 
likely to be directly affected by those 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 419 

sexual disorders of which it is more imme- 
diately the object of this book to treat 
upon, I have purposely left out of view, 
my object being, not the compilation of a 
work on midwifery and sexual physiology 
generally, but, as I have repeatedly stated, 
to convey such information as may be made 
available in circumstances when immediate 
medical aid cannot be conveniently ob- 
tained. With this, interspersed as the 
subject seemed to demand, I have thrown 
in such suggestions, counsels and reflec- 
tions as the subjects naturally inspired. 
This I have done, not in any spirit of ego- 
tism, or of dictation, but solely in the 
benevolent design of protecting, guarding 
and saving, possibly, from ultimate ruin, 
or incurable disease, a large class, unhap- 
pily at an early age thrown upon their own 
resources, and who, amidst the temptations 
and seductions of city life, too often fall a 
.prey to the tempter, who, under the protean 



420 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

forms of the theatre, the dancing hall, the 
sociable, the assembly, and the ball room, 
but too successfully assails them. There is 
no being on earth so confident in her own 
strength and power of resistance, as the 
young girl just emerging into womanhood. 
In her own opinion she possesses a riper 
judgment, and a keener insight " into 
matters and things in general/' than " all 
the world beside/' and, strong in her own 
sense of what is just and proper, harmless 
and innocent as well, she allows herself to 
be escorted hither and thither to places 
and scenes of doubtful repute, and still 
less doubtful propriety, feeling secure if 
under the escort of some '" nice young 
man/' who unhesitatingly assures her that 
u the place is perfectly respectable," and 
that lie will see to it that " everything 
shall be all right/' and no harm befall her. 
Fond and unreflecting mothers, who by 
their circumstances and position in life are 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 421 

shut out from what is termed " genteel 
society/ 7 compass heaven and earth for 
some opening through which her daugh- 
ters may become participators in those 
gatherings of the young of both sexes ; 
where an opportunity may be had to show 
off her darlings, and perhaps to sell them, 
literally sell them, to the best advantage ; 
little thinking that the moustachoed, kid- 
gloved, highly perfumed young fellow, 
who so gaily whirls her loved one round 
in the giddy mazes of the waltz x or 
" Boston Dip/ 7 is at best only some jour- 
neyman barber, porter, or tape measurer, 
whose only claim to being present in " res- 
pectable society ;? is the fact that, he was 
the fortunate possessor of the seventy-five 
cents or the dollar requisite to purchase 
his admission card to the " select assem- 
bly ». at Hall. 

It seems to have been forgotten that 
really meritorious young men, who are 



422 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

proper associates for virtuous young wo- 
men, not only never attend such places, or 
if perchance they ever do, they never 
dream of forming honorable or permanent 
alliances with the young ladies whom they 
meet there. The very fact that they find 
them there, is conclusive against any sup- 
position of the kind ; and however safely 
the young girl may pass through the ordeal, 
she comes out of it, even if unsoiled, saved 
as by fire ; but nevertheless, with the smell 
of flame upon her garments ever after- 
wards. My deep solicitude in behalf of 
those to whom these lines are particularly 
addressed must constitute my apology, if 
any is needed, for the earnestness and 
directness with which I have set before 
them the evils almost sure to follow in the 
train, it may be, of but a single false step. 
The records of many physicians' expe- 
rience, like my own, could reveal many a 
sad tale of confidence betrayed, hopes 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 423 

blighted, health destroyed, and life's bright- 
est prospects forever darkened by a too 
thoughtless disregard of the substantial 
truth that the true modesty and worth 
which most surely captivates, is generally 
found, like virgin gold and precious gems, 
hidden from the common view, and will be 
sought after and drawn forth from their 
concealment to gladden, enrich, and orna- 
ment mankind ; whilst the baser metals, 
exposed to view, or " lying round loose " 
upon the surface, are passed by unheeded, 
or trodden under foot. With these re- 
marks, and bidding you adieu, in the words 
and language of Ovid, 

" Ut ameris, araibilis esto," 

(Be lovely, that you may be loved,) 

I pass to the consideration of womanhood, 

in her more interesting relation of a wife, 

the goal of every true woman's hopes and 

aspirations, a position than which a more 

dignified, noble, and exalted one cannot 

possibly exist. 



424 MEDICAL ADVISEK. 



CHAPTEB XII. 

ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO MARRIED LADIES 
BARRENNESS, ITS SORROWS MAY BE RE- 
MOVED MISMATED CHILDREN PRE- 
VENTATIVES TO CONCEPTION THE USE OF, 

JUSTIFIABLE UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTAN- 
CES MY SYSTEM OF MEDICAL TREAT- 
MENT — ADVICE TO APPLICANTS FOR PRO- 
FESSIONAL SERVICES. 

THE preceding pages, although com- 
posed chiefly with a view to their 
adaptation to the circumstances and wants 
of young and unmarried females, will be 
found none the less applicable to the ne- 
cessities of ladies of riper years suffering 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 425 

under any of the complaints therein enu- 
merated. The physiological condition of 
the female is by no means changed by the 
circumstance of marriage, but there is a 
change socially and relatively of vast 
importance, which may, in the course of 
events, very essentially affect her health 
and happiness to that degree as to render 
life either an inestimable blessing, or a 
bitter curse. No one knows this better 
than the physician, who, called upon, as he 
frequently is, to administer to the suffer- 
ings of the body, finds that he can only 
reach them beneficially by first clearing 
away the mental cobwebs which hang 
around the understanding of his patient. 

In the life of every married lady there 
arises, of necessity, many a question in 
regard to herself personally, the solution of 
which, involving no serious point in morals 
or duty, can better be decided by the 
physician than by the confessor, and I feel 



1 

426 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

that in devoting a few pages, addressed 
especially to married ladies, I shall per- 
form for them a by no means unacceptable 
service. The married lady will, no less 
than the single woman, often find herself 
the victim of all those peculiar, delicate 
sexual complaints of which we have al- 
ready treated, such as suppressions, ob- 
structions and catamenial difficulties, and 
she may, perchance, also find herself 
caught within the toils of those more 
virulent diseases which it is the more 
especial object of this treatise to explain, 
and for which to point out the proper 
remedies. The counsels and suggestions 
already given are sufficient for such cases, 
either with the single or married, and 
therefore I need not enlarge upon them, 
and what I have to say in drawing my 
work to a conclusion, will be addressed to 
married ladies, having reference to topics 
concerning which they sometimes feel no 



glide to health 427 

small degree of embarrassment and doubt. 
Hitherto your own individual self, the 
preservation of health and beauty, has 
been your chief aim. Now, other and 
higher cares and duties devolve upon you. 
With a husband of your own choice, " you 
twain are made one flesh/ 7 and your incli- 
nations and efforts should lead you to fill 
all the duties of your position with dignity 
and prudence, having a proper regard not 
only to your own, but to another's, and pos- 
sibly to many others' welfare, whose health 
and happiness are dependent upon the 
course you shall pursue. " Mens sana in 
corpore sano," — a sound mind in a sound 
body, — should ever be your motto ; and tak- 
ing it for granted that you have arrived at 
your present condition possessed of a fair 
endowment of physical stamina, I proceed to 
indicate the maladies and infirmities to 
which you are liable, and in what manner 
they may be best avoided. 



428 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Whatever may be your situation, or 
worldly circumstances, one of the first 
hopes of married life is that of offspring. 
Barrenness is always a source of mortifi- 
cation and disappointment ; and if the 
husband be of vigorous health, and in the 
enjoyment of even but a moderate income, 
the lack of this great blessing will inevi- 
tably bring discontent, too often ending in 
bitterness and positive dislike. There may 
be exceptions to this, but they are very 
rare. Beauty, accomplishments, and amia- 
bility will go very far to reconcile for 
awhile the husband to the sterility of the 
marriage bed ; but ever and anon his discon- 
tent will break forth, and you are rendered 
miserable and unhappy in the prospect 
before you. But you should not despair. 
The obstacles to a full realization of your 
wishes are undoubtedly only temporary, 
and you only need the friendly sugges- 
tions of a competent and skilful medical 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 429 

adviser to enable you to emerge from this 
dark cloud which overhangs jour domestic 
happiness. It is a physiological truth 
that, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
sterility, which is not dependent upon 
defective organization, is but a temporary 
impediment to conception, and yields as 
readily to medical treatment, in skilful 
hands, as the most simple obstruction to 
the operations of nature ; whilst, on the 
other hand, this difficulty tampered with, 
maltreated, or submitted to unnecessarily, 
produces untold evils, and is a constant 
source of disquietude, languor, debility, 
painful disease, and eventual prostration 
of health, leading to the early development 
of latent disease, and too often to a prema- 
ture grave. I assure you that all these 
evils may be avoided by a timely applica- 
tion of the remedies which I can prescribe. 
They are such as are indicated by nature 
itself, and which I have never known to 



430 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

fail. My treatment in all such cases is so 
mild and efficacious that, in a wonderfully 
short space of time, all those obstacles 
which have hitherto operated as a bar to 
your happiness, are made to disappear, 
and you are made to rejoice in the full 
realization of your fondest wishes. 

But suppose that all has gone well, and 
you are, or have every reason to hope that 
you soon will be, as "are all women who 
love their lords/ 7 do you not need the 
guiding counsels of a friendly adviser ? 
You are far away from the timely sugges- 
tions of a mother's solicitude and love, 
and you have, or ought to have, too much 
good sense to listen to the " thousand and 
one ?7 knowing counsels of those of your 
own sex, who are always ready to " throw 
in a word 77 in such cases. The fact is, 
there are too many advisers, and too much 
of it, and in the novelty and strangeness 
of your condition you know not what to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 431 

do. Unnatural longings and appetites, 
dizziness and faintings, with painful alter- 
nations of exhilaration and despondency 
beset you, endangering not only your own 
health, but extremely prejudicial, if not 
fatal, in their influence and effects, upon 
the precious burden you bear. Here, 
then, arises the occasion for consultation 
with a skilful medical adviser. My long 
and extensive practice in these matters 
emboldens me to invite your confidence. 
It will not be misplaced, I assure you, and 
in all cases where nature requires the mit- 
igating and alleviating aid of the physi- 
cian's skill, I am sure that I have it in my 
power to give you relief. 

There is another topic to which I must 
allude, or I should fail in supplying you 
with even the shadow of a Guide to Health 
and Long Life. 

It is a sad truth, and the world knows 
it but too certainly, that a large share of 



432 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

the wretchedness and misery found among 
married people is attributable to a want of 
harmony and congeniality between the 
husband and wife. Hasty and ill-assorted 
marriages of convenience and interest ; 
marriages, the result of scheming parents 
and match-making friends ; marriages, 
where the affections have had little or 
nothing to do in bringing them about ; 
frosty age and blooming youth, spring and 
winter clasping hands, only to realize the 
bitter pangs of a broken heart, and buried 
hopes. And are there no remedies for all 
this ? Has, indeed, the Universal Father 
left his wayward children helpless and 
hopeless here ? I believe not. The philo- 
sophic and discriminating physician ought 
to have, and does have, the means of ward- 
ing off, and to a great degree, of entirely 
removing, the evils resulting from the 
mistakes such as I have mentioned, so that 
they shall not be regarded as the errors 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 433 

of a life-time, but only temporary. I make 
no pretensions to superhuman skill, and 
yet I know that I can, by a method exclu- 
sively my own, guide all those who are 
thus unhappily situated, so that obstacles 
and apparent difficulties to marital enjoy- 
ment, and all reasonable conjugal happi- 
ness, may be overcome ; so that domestic 
felicity may be attained by those hitherto 
desolate and unhappy. 

There is still another subject about 
which it may not be deemed inappropriate 
that something be said here ; and I do it 
because it is a subject upon which I am 
almost daily consulted, and upon the suc- 
cessful management of which very much 
of human happiness or misery is involved. 
Whilst children are a great blessing, and 
serve more than anything else to bind 
together those who have them, yet there 
are cases in the marriage relation where 
not only health and happiness, but life 



434 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

itself, renders it not only very proper, but 
absolutely essential to the preservation of 
both, that nature should be restrained in 
this, her most interesting operation. Hun- 
dreds and thousands submit unwillingly to 
the supposed inevitable decree, " In sor- 
row shalt thou conceive, " under the suppo- 
sition that it is a part of their destiny, 
which it would be a sin or crime for them 
to seek to evade. I do not consider it so. 
If, in bearing children, a lady finds her 
health sink, or her life endangered, there 
is, there can be, no violation of either 
human or divine law in guarding against 
the threatened danger. There is no in- 
junction against Prevention to Concep- 
tion. To say so, would be as idle and 
absurd as to say that celibacy is criminal. 
There is not a week in the year in which 
I do not receive letters from both husbands 
and wives, — men and women of the highest 
respectability and standing, in both church 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 435 

and society, — who, Knowing from former 
experience the clangers and trials of par- 
turition and maternity in their own fami- 
lies, are anxious to avoid them in future. 
In such cases I do not hesitate to supply 
them with my remedy, because I fully 
realize how important it is to them. I 
thus save lives ; the life of the unhappy 
wife, and that, also, of what might be a 
wretched offspring, the heritor perhaps of 
constitutional disease, but whose exist- 
ence is prevented by a timely and inno- 
cent application, which, whilst it accom- 
plishes all that is desirable, strengthens 
and prepares the system for a future 
period, when the like dangers may not be 
apprehended, and when nature may be 
safely left to pursue her work undisturbed. 
I need not in this brief treatise enumerate, 
more particularly, the various ailments 
incident to married life. They are such 
as every wife and mother has to encoun- 



436 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

ter, but are all very easily and safely 
managed and subdued, if attended to in 
season, by proper remedies, administered 
by skilful hands. A husband and father 
myself, I need not be told a husband's 
anxiety concerning these matters, nor how 
deeply involved is a husband's peace and 
prosperity in the health, serenity, and 
happiness of his wife. From nearly thirty- 
four years' experience as a physician, and 
having made the subject of female diseases 
of all kinds an especial study, I am pre- 
pared to treat all cases, from whatever 
cause they may arise, with an almost 
unerring certainty of affording immediate 
and permanent relief. 

I have not refrained from alluding to a 
class of diseases, the immediate results of 
indiscretion, and the promiscuous inter- 
course of the sexes. So long as human 
nature remains what it is, and ever has been, 
we must expect, and shall ever have, in 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 437 

their various forms, all those diseases 
which it seems that an all-wise Providence 
has, for purposes which to the medical man 
are plain enough, attached as the penalties 
of illicit indulgence. It is quite useless, 
as it is foreign to my purpose, to discuss 
the why and the wherefore that this is so. 
It is enough to know that the unlicensed 
and unrestrained indulgence of the ama- 
tory and generative faculties, even under 
the most guarded circumstances, with 
every supposed precaution taken, and 
where both parties believe themselves to 
be free of any contagious distemper, often 
leads to disease, — not only mortifying and 
painful in itself, but which, if neglected 
or tampered with, is productive only of 
present inconvenience and distress, — and 
if not properly cared for and cured in its 
inception, will, if suffered to run through 
all its various stages, almost certainly lead 
to general debility and decline ; rapidly 



438 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and permanently developing the latent 
germs of many of those fearful forms of 
pulmonary disease, which annually consign 
to an untimely grave so many of the 
fairest daughters of our land. As I 
have before stated, a false modesty, 
a sense of self-abasement and of mor- 
tification, a great reluctance to expose, 
even to a medical adviser, the circum- 
stances in which you find yourself, and 
the troubles which oppress you, lead 
you to attempt concealment and a resort 
to advertised nostrums, under the delusive 
hope that in them you can find relief, and 
escape from the unhappy dilemma in 
which you are placed. Now, when I 
assure you that however common and 
prevalent these diseases are, there are 
few which so promptly demand the physi- 
cian's skill. Every hour they remain 
unchecked, their intensity and virulence 
increase in exact proportion with the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 439 

habits and temperament of the individ- 
ual affected. With the cold, languid, and 
lymphatic, their progress will be none the 
less sure and fatal ; whilst with the san- 
guine and impulsive, they are a consuming 
fire; penetrating every nerve, sinew, 
and artery, — sapping the very foundations 
of life, which only lingers on in an aimless, 
hopeless burden to its possessor. Of all 
diseases, those denominated " sexual " are 
the most capricious and troublesome to 
deal with. No one understands this better 
than the experienced practitioner, who, 
through years of close observation, has 
been enabled to study, in different sub- 
jects, the ever varying forms in which 
they present themselves. Whilst at one 
time, in one individual, they will try the 
patience and the best skill of the most 
profound student of medical knowledge, 
with others they will yield to the most 
simple application, which will astonish you 



440 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

with the rapidity with which it effects, 
a cure. But such cases are very excep- 
tional. The very nature of these diseases 
is such, and their obstinacy so well known, 
that no sensible or prudent person will 
attempt to prescribe for themselves, or 
neglect an experienced physician, who 
only can with safety be relied upon 
for relief. The severest and most com- 
plicated cases, among the many thousands 
which I have been called upon to treat, 
have been those in which persons sought 
to cure themselves by a blind and hazard- 
ous application of advertised specifics, or 
of remedies gathered from formulas given 
in medical books, — of the nature and oper- 
ation of which they were profoundly 
ignorant, — producing, in numberless in- 
stances, effects as disastrous as they were 
fearful and unexpected. 

There is another very important and 
interesting fact connected with the so- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 441 

called catalogue of " secret diseases/ 7 but 
scarcely known to ordinary practitioners, 
or if known, seldom regarded in their 
treatment of them. It is this : that, 
although from the earliest records of 
medical science down to the present day, 
these diseases have been known, — and 
challenged the best skill and attention of 
medical men, — yet they have become so 
modified and changed by the advance of 
civilization, carrying with it new customs 
and modes of living, each succeeding 
generation striving to excel the past, not 
only in the ordinary luxuries of life but 
in the refinements and the exquisite inten- 
sity of their pleasures, that the diseases 
of which I am now speaking, although 
known by the same names by which they 
were designated, — even less than twenty 
years ago, — are comparatively unassailable 
by remedies which were then considered 
specific. And the person who now relies 



442 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

upon prescriptions and formulas found in 
authors of high repute then, does so only 
to find himself disappointed and defeated 
in the efforts to perfect a cure. In fact 
there is, there can be no guide so sure and 
safe as experience ; and the medical man 
who has been quick to observe and careful 
to note and compare all the various symp- 
toms of these diseases, through an ex- 
tensive practice of many years 7 duration, 
is alone, of all others, the proper person 
to be admitted to your confidence, and to 
prescribe for your cure. 

And why should you hesitate to make a 
prompt application to him? Your case is 
not an exceptional one. He knows better 
than you can tell him the painful embar- 
rassments and mortifications under which 
you labor ; and it is a part of his profes- 
sion, training, and duty, to put you at ease, 
and facilitate your communications to him 
by timely suggestions, which at once re- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 443 

lieves you of every impediment to a frank 
and full disclosure of all that is requisite 
for him to know. My remedies for all this 
class of diseases are those indicated by 
nature, and the particular stage of the 
disease itself; and although prompt and 
efficacious in their operation, they do not 
leave behind them those baneful effects 
ever to be apprehended when the mineral 
preparations commonly prescribed are re- 
lied upon, and especially when self-admin- 
istered, or what is equally dangerous, 
when taken from unskilful and inexpe- 
rienced hands. I will not longer dwell 
upon this branch of my treatise ; I have 
somewhat reluctantly, but necessarily, in- 
troduced it into these pages, as, without 
doing so I should have failed to give you 
anything like a complete Guide to Health. 
The subject is one which unfortunately 
challenges our attention, and its victims, 
found in every grade of society, excite 



444 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

our deepest sympathy ; and I should fail 
in doing justice to my own feelings, and I 
believe in the expectations of those who 
may read this treatise, had I written less 
plainly than I have. 

A word or two about remedies and med- 
icines. My medicines are all prepared, 
chiefly from carefully-selected roots, barks, 
herbs, etc., many of them procured at great 
expense, and from distant countries. In 
no case can they do injury. They leave 
no corrosive poison to rankle in the system, 
nor paralyze and distort any part of your 
organization ; on the contrary, when having 
accomplished their work, they purify, 
strengthen, and invigorate ; thus promot- 
ing, in strict harmony with nature's laws, 
the operation of every function of your 
body, rendering your life a blessing, not 
only to yourself, but to all others with 
whom you may be associated. 

My desire is always that I may be con- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH- 445 

suited personally, if possible. The means 
of ready conveyance by the railroads are 
now so numerous, and the cost of travel so 
cheap, that a distance of one, two, or three 
hundred miles, is but a pleasure trip in 
comparison to the slow coaches and wagons 
of former days. A visit to Boston from 
almost any point within five hundred miles 
can now be accomplished in a day or two 
at a very trifling expense ; and an hour 
spent with the Doctor at his rooms will 
accomplish more for your good than a score 
of letters, however carefully and elaborately 
written. The eye, the cheek, the lips, and 
tongue, afford better and more reliable 
indications of the real state of the patient 
than any written statement can possibly 
do. Visit me, then, if possible, so that I 
may, from personal examination, better 
determine upon the exact nature of your 
case, and the remedies the best adapted to 
your cure. But if there are any insuperable 



446 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

difficulties and objections to your personal 
application, write, giving me as clear and 
concise a statement as possible, and your 
communication shall receive a prompt and 
satisfactory reply. 

Desirous of rendering this work as com- 
plete as possible, consistent with the limits 
of the volume itself, I have compiled from 
the best authorities within my reach, and 
fortified by my own experience, an alpha- 
betical list of diseases intimately connected 
with or resulting from those sexual, vagi- 
nal, and uterine affections properly regard- 
ed as within the legitimate province of the 
specialist to deal with. 

The symptoms of almost every disease 
of this class to which the female sex are 
liable, are here briefly described, and I 
confidently trust that my readers will find 
both the matter and manner of the classifi- 
cation adopted in the following chapter 
interesting and beneficial. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 447 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SYMPTOMATOLOGY, ETC. 

OF PRIVATE, SEXUAL, VAGINAL, UTERINE, AND 
OTHER DISEASES PECULIAR TO FEMALES, 
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED. WITH USEFUL 
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO THEIR PROPER 
TREATMENT, ETC. 

AGALACTIA, a diminution, or complete 
absence of milk in nursing women. 
May be caused by general weakness of 
constitution ; long continued mental anxi- 
ety ; exhausting disease ; general plethora; 
acute, or chronic disease of the breast, or 
nipples ; torpor of the mammas (teats) ; 
return of menstruation while giving suck ; 
approach of change of life. 



448 MEDICAL ADYISER. 

In case of nursing, unless cured, the 
infant must be weaned to prevent its 
suffering from insufficient nourishment. 

This trouble is not common amongst 
healthy mothers, but with the weak and 
delicate it is very frequent. When it 
arises from ansemia, which is frequently 
the case, the health ought to be improved 
by animal food ; by a fair allowance of ale 
or porter ; and by taking milk, or cocoa 
made with milk, instead of tea and coffee. 
A raw egg, beaten up in a tumbler fall of 
milk, once or twice daily, will do good. 

Sore Nipples are often indirectly the 
cause of defective lactation. Slight exco- 
riations, as well as chaps and fissures, need 
prompt attention, to prevent their becom- 
ing very troublesome. If the usual astrin- 
gent lotions, such as a dilute solution of 
subacetate of lead, or of borax and glyce- 
rine, do not readily heal the sore, your 
physician should be consulted ; especially 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 449 

if the fissures are deep. Never attempt 
cauterization, nor the use of nitrate of 
silver, in any form, without first consulting 
him. In the meantime, the mouth of the 
child should be frequently examined, so 
that, if there be ulcers, they maybe cured. 

Remedies used to arrest the secretion 
of milk, such as the extract of belladonna, 
iodide of potassium, colchicum, camphor, 
tobacco, used in the form of an ointment, 
or otherwise, or even the popular remedy 
of sage tea, should never be used without 
first consulting your physician. 

Ancee. See Chlorosis. 

Ascites, or Dropsy of the Peritoneum, 
consists of a tense, swollen condition of 
the abdomen, owing to the presence of a 
watery fluid in the cavity of the serous 
lining; and is often mistaken for preg- 
nancy, hence to very many ladies a matter 
of very serious importance, aside from the 
dangerous nature of the disease itself. 



450 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

It may arise from chronic peritonitis ; 
chirrhosis, cancer, renal disease and albu- 
minaria ; disease of the heart, enlargement 
of the spleen, etc., cirrhosis of the liver, 
and renal disease, most frequent causes of 
this complaint. Symptoms are, character- 
istic appearance of the patient, upper part 
of the body wasted, features pinched, coun- 
tenance very anxious ; abdomen greatly 
enlarged, and the skin tight and shiny, 
with the superficial veins much dilated, 
urine scanty, often loaded with urates ; 
in ascites from cirrhosis it generally con- 
tains bile ; in that from renal disease we 
will find albumen. Increasing deteriora- 
tion of general health. Weakness and 
emaciation, loss of appetite, sleeplessness, 
inability to lie down, exhaustion, ending 
fatally when the dropsy is due to organic 
disease. As a rule, in ascites, as in all 
renal diseases, preparations of mercury 
are injurious, and even diuretics must be 



GUIDE TO. PIEALTH. 451 

employed very cautiously. Baths, such as 
warm, vapor, Turkish and hot-air, are 
especially useful, given under the direction 
of the physician. 

Bed case, or Bed-ridden. A not unfre- 
quent form of hysteria. Subjects of it 
live in bed ; they are generally tranquil, 
cheerful, have good digestions, and like 
the kind attentions of sympathizing friends. 
Often impressed with the belief that there 
is serious disease in the spine, or in the 
womb; there are certain movements which 
they think cannot be made without " hor- 
rible " pain. Menstruation is frequently 
attended with suffering ; leucorrhcea not 
uncommon. May sometimes be traced to 
uterine misplacements, such as retroflec- 
tion. The treatment of this malady re- 
quires great skill, tact and judgment on 
the part of the medical attendant, and is 
perfectly curable if rightly managed. I 
have had several very interesting cases 



452 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

under my care, which., by great patience, 
persistent attention, and a nice adaptation 
of expedients to promote confidence on 
the part of the patient, I have been suc- 
cessful in curing in a very short -time. 
Galvanism is found very useful in such 
cases, aud when by its aid we can create 
energy sufficient to secure a removal from 
the bed to a sofa, from sofa to chair, from 
chair to crutches, and so on, until the 
patient can walk out in the open air, the 
cure will be quite rapid. 

Blennorrhagia, a name derived from 
the two Greek words meaning mucus, or 
slime ; and, to burst forth. It is a dis- 
charge from the mucous membrane of the 
vagina, or urethra, usually contracted in 
sexual intercourse, and very similar to 
though less virulent than Gonorrhoea. 
Treatment the same. 

Chlorosis, or Green Sickness. A pecu- 
liar form of anaemia (deficiency of blood) 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 453 

affecting young women about the age of 
puberty. The red blood corpuscles are 
pale, small, and diminished in number. 
The serum is in excess. The symptoms 
are, a* wax-like hue of countenance ; pallor 
of skin, whence the popular name of " green 
sickness ; " deficient or depraved appe- 
tite ; constipation ; abundant limpid urine ; 
weak, quick pulse ; hysteria ; pale, scanty 
menstrual discharge ; leucorrhoea ; listless- 
ness ; headache ; palpitations ; backache, 
etc. The treatment should be, good living, 
pure air, sea-bathing, with proper tonic 
remedies, to be prescribed by the physi- 
cian, in accordance with the peculiar con- 
stitutional and idiopathic tendencies of the 
patient. 

Chorea, or St. Vitus' Dance. A disease 
characterised by irregular, tremulous, and 
often ludicrous actions of the voluntary 
muscles, especially those of the face and 
limbs ; there being incomplete subser- 



454 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

viency of those muscles, especially of the 
face and limbs, to the will. Has been 
called " insanity of the muscles/ 7 Mostly 
attacks girls between six and fifteen 
years' of age, though not uncommon in 
boys. 

The symptoms of this disease are, at 
commencement slight twitching spasms of 
the facial muscles. By degrees almost all 
the voluntary muscles become infected; 
child cannot keep quiet, though the move- 
ments are, to some extent, under the 
control of the will; constant restlessness 
of the hands and arms, perhaps of the legs, 
most marked when the patient sees that 
she is watched. Features curiously twist- 
ed and contorted ; vacancy of countenance ; 
temper irritable ; irregular appetite, per- 
haps constipation; one-half of the body 
usually more affected than the other ; the 
disease may be confined entirely to one 
side ; then termed hemichorea. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 455 

Rheumatic fever may precede, accompany, 
or follow chorea. It sometimes, though 
very rarely, terminates in epilepsy. 

In the treatment of this distressing com- 
plaint, nourishing food and general care are 
of the utmost importance, whilst regula- 
tion of the bowels and uterine functions, 
if the patient has reached the age of, 
puberty, must be carefully attended to. 
The physician, who will of course be ; 
promptly s consulted, will iraj)ose restric- 
tions upon everything likely to produce 
mental excitement, and by suitable tonics, 1 
aided by sea-bathing, gymnastic exercises, 
and exercise in the pure air, make every 
effort to restore tone and strength to the 
system. 

Clitorites. Inflammation of the clitoris. 
The clitoris is occasionally attacked with 
subacute inflammation ; leading to k exces- 
sive enlargement, or to a shrinking up, or 
falling away of the bladder. It may also 



456 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

be excessively developed from some con- 
genital malformation. It is sometimes the 
seat of cancerous infiltration. The entire 
organ may be diseased, or only its prepuce. 
The clitoris occasionally becomes indura- 
ted, with or without enlargement. This 
is said to be due to self-abuse. It is often 
deemed necessary to amputate it in order 
to cure this practice, but the operation I 
consider of very doubtful utility, and would 
not advise it. 

Chylous Urine. The excretion of urine 
of a milky appearance, from the presence 
of fatty matter in a molecular state. The 
urine, after standing a short time, and 
sometimes whilst in the bladder, coagulates 
into a trembling mass, resembling blanc- 
mange. The usual symptoms are : lassi- 
tude, pains about the loins and epigastrium, 
(that part . of the abdomen immediately 
over the stomach). The attacks frequently 
intermit ; the urine will be healthy for 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 457 

months, and then chylous for months. 
This is a very weakening disease, and 
calls for very careful tonic treatment. 
Aside from proper medicinal agencies, 
only to be prescribed by the physician, 
the patient should have change of air, 
salt water baths, and nourishing diet. 

Coccyodynia. Pain or tenderness about 
the coccyx, (so called from its resemblance 
to the beak of the cuckoo) which is the small 
triangular bone appended to the point of 
the sacrum, or bone forming the posterior 
wall of the pelvis. Pain is often occasioned 
by a fall or blow, childbirth, violent horse 
exercise, etc. Inflammation may be set 
up in the fibrous tissues around, and mus- 
cular attachments to the coccyx. The 
symptoms are : pain on sitting down or 
rising up from a chair, on walking, • at 
stools, etc. The sufferer sometimes can 
only sit on one hip ; any movement which 
stretches the coccygeal ligaments, or 



458 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

brings the neighboring articulations into 
play, causes suffering ; sometimes this is 
most severe, often aggravated by sexual 
intercourse, or by the menstrual flow. It 
is occasionally an accompaniment of ute- 
rine or ovarian disease, when it is sympa- 
thilic, or neuralgic. In its treatment, the 
reader will at once see, from the nature 
and gravity of the complaint, that no half- 
way measures can be relied upon. The 
first step necessary will be the removal of 
any uterine or ovarian disease, and an 
improvement of the general health by 
tonics ; subcutaneous injections of mor- 
phine are recommended by some physi- 
cians, but I do not approve of them in any 
case. They are dangerous always, and 
sometimes fatal. Surgical operations may 
be. necessary, such as subcutaneous divi- 
sion of the muscles and ligaments connect- 
ed with the coccyx, so as to set the bone 
at rest. Sometimes a complete removal 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 459 

of the whole organ, or a portion of it, is 
necessary. 

Constipation. This term is frequently 
made use of in the preceding pages, and 
its meaning is probably quite generally 
understood ; but as I do not wish anything 
left in doubt, I will very briefly define it 
as an idiopathic disease, i. e., arising 
spontaneously, and not from another ; or it 
may arise during the progress of any acute, 
or chronic disease. By habitual costive- 
ness is meant, a prolonged departure 
from the standard natural to the individual. 
As a rule, most people have a daily evacu- 
ation ; but some only go to stool every 
second or third day. The symptoms of 
constipation are : the functions of the 
stomach, liver and pancreas imperfectly 
performed; a sense of mental and bodily 
depression ; sallow and pasty complexion. 
Dry skin ; scanty urine ; no stools, or only 
scanty motions, pale, clay-like, and very 



460 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

offensive. In obstinate cases ; a loss of all 
power for exertion ; headache, palpitation, 
neuralgia, hypochondriasis. The treat- 
ment for this disorder must be governed 
almost entirely by the peculiar circumstan- 
ces and constitutional tendencies and idyo- 
sincrasies of the patient, the mode of life, 
occupation, etc., etc., and whether the 
difficulty is only occasional and temporary, 
or habitual and constant. Purgatives of 
almost every kind known to the pharma- 
copsea, in different forms, are administered 
as cathartics and enemas, as often aggra- 
vating as alleviating the complaint. A 
careful attention to and regulation of the 
diet, is a much surer and safer method of 
overcoming it. For this purpose I recom- 
mend good, wholesome, and digestible food. 
Ripe fruits in the morning. Figs, or 
prunes, eaten just before the regular meal. 
Oatmeal porridge, brown bread, especially 
the unbolted wheat meal, or Graham bread. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 461 

daily exercise, avoidance of too much 
sleep ; sponge, or shower-baths ; friction 
over the bowels ; and more than all, the 
bowels to be solicited to act at a regular 
hour daily. This I have often found effec- 
tual, when other remedies, much relied 
upon, have failed. Much common sense, a 
great deal of patience and care, and very, 
very little dosing and drugging will be 
found the best in managing this painful 
and annoying difficulty. 

The patient should early consult a re- 
liable and intelligent physician, and impli- 
citly follow his directions. My practice in 
this, as in all other similar cases, is to 
follow the indications of nature as closely as 
possible, and with the occasional but timely 
administration of remedies which my ex- 
perience has shown me are most efficacious 
in " breaking down " constipation, very 
rarely fail in accomplishing it. 

Ecstacy, or Trance. A condition anal- 



462 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

agous to the cataleptic. The patient be- 
comes insensible to all external impres- 
sions ; and is absorbed in contemplation 
of some imaginary object. The eyes are 
immovably fixed; impassioned sentences, 
fervent prayers, psalms and hymns are 
recited with great expression. Eeligious 
fanatics, by encouraging some predominent 
idea, fall into a state of trance, etc., claim- 
ing to receive spiritual revelations. Faith, 
enthusiasm, etc., become very much exalt- 
ed. See Hysteria. 

Fallopian Tube Dropsy. In my des- 
cription of the generative organs of the 
female, I purposely omitted allusion to the 
Fallopian tubes, and the important part 
they have to perform in the act of concep- 
tion, my object being, as already stated, 
only to describe such organs as might be 
affected by direct contagion, or subject to 
the touch or sight in vaginal and uterine 
examinations, as anything beyond those 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 463 

would necessarily require the presence of 
a physician, and should, under no circum- 
stances, be meddled with by an inexpe- 
rienced person. 

The Fallopian Tubes are two small 
canals, enclosed in the peritonseum, ex- 
tending from the pendus, or upper part of 
the womb, to the ovaries. They vary 
from four and a quarter to five inches in 
length, and serve the double purpose of a 
, conduit, or passage-waj^- for transmitting 
the fecundating principle of the male, and 
for carrying the germ furnished by the 
female from the ovary to the uterus. Fal- 
lopian Tube Dropsy is an uncommon af- 
fection. When it occurs, the fringed 
extremity of the tube, together with the 
uterine orifice, get completely obliterated, 
in consequence of chronic inflammation, 
the portion of the tube between the open- 
ings becoming the seat of an accumulation 
of pus, or serous fluid. As many as 



464 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

twenty-three pints of fluid have been found 
under these circumstances. Of course a 
disease of such gravity requires the very 
best medical and surgical treatment, as it 
admits of but one method of relief, viz : 
puncturing the sack with a small trocar, 
and canular through the roof of the 
vagina. 

Galactorrhea. Superabundant Secre- 
tion of Milk in nursing women, in conse- 
quence of which, this fluid continually 
oozes away ; several pints may thus escape 
in the course of twenty-four hours, keeping 
the patient's clothing wet, and weakening 
her system, inducing hysteria, dyspepsia, 
low spirits, and even consumption, or 
dropsy. The treatment should be, first to 
wean the infant, thus relieving the mother 
of that care ; compression of the breasts 
by strapping with belladonna plaster ; 
nourishing food ; close examination as 
to the condition of the uterus and ova- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 465 

ries, and the removal of any disease 
therein. 

Hysteria. A term derived from a Greek 
word signifying the womb, because the 
disorder known by this name is generally 
supposed to have its origin in that organ. 
It is a nervous affection which occurs in 
paroxysms, or stimulates other diseases. 
The attacks are accompanied with abun- 
dant secretions of urine; and frequently 
with a sense of a ball rising in the throat ; 
occasionally convulsions. Women from 
the age of puberty to the decline of men- 
struation are most liable to it. The symp- 
toms, especially those characterising the 
hysteric paroxysm or Jit, are : convulsive 
movement of the trunk or limbs; beating 
the breasts with clenched hands, or tearing 
the hair or clothes ; shrieks and screams ; 
violent agitation, or feeling of suffocation ; 
the attack ending with convulsive out- 
breaks of crying or laughter, and some- 



466 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

times with hiccough. Occasionally the 
patient falls to the ground insensible and 
exhausted, soon recovering, tired and cry- 
ing. Perhaps urine is involuntarily dis- 
charged during the excitement : Anaesthe- 
sia, or loss of sensibility is not uncommon ; 
sometimes lasting for months, affecting the 
left side more than the right ; and being 
so deep that pins and needles may be 
thrust into the affected muscles without 
causing pain. The appetite for food be- 
comes increased or diminished, or deprav- 
ed, so that the most extraordinary sub- 
stances are eaten. 

Hysteria simulates almost all diseases. 
The favorites are : suppression of urine ; 
stone in the bladder ; pleurisy ; consump- 
tion ; loss of voice ; paralysis ; epilepsy ; 
and affections of the spine or joints. Hys- 
terical cough, hiccough, or vomiting may 
prove very obstinate. There forms a pe- 
culiar expression of countenance ; fulness 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 467 

of the upper lip ; drooping of the upper 
eyelids ; menstruation often irregular ; 
more or less profuse leucorrhoea, or whites. 
These sufferings are by no means feigned, 
and the patient very generally really be- 
lieves that she is most grievously affected. 
' Tis true that in many instances there 
may be some degree of deception resorted 
to, in order to increase the sympathy of 
friends, yet after all there is actual disease. 
The mode of treatment should be adapted 
to the peculiar temperament and idyosin- 
crasies of the patient. During the parox- 
ysms the dress should be loosened ; care 
taken to prevent self-injury ; the body 
surrounded with cool air ; application of 
ammonia to the nostrils. If it can be 
swallowed, a draught containing a drachm 
of ammoniated tincture of valerian. If 
apparent insensibility continues, cold water 
may be freely dashed over the head and 
face. In general, tonic medicines ; mental 



468 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

occupation ; sea-bathing ; shower-baths ; 
attention to the uterine functions ; check- 
ing catamenia, if too abundant, and promot- 
ing them if too scanty, will, under the 
immediate direction of the physician, be 
found the best course to pursue. I can 
recall numerous cases, in my own practice, 
where the resources of art have been taxed 
to their uttermost in combating this dis- 
tressing malady, yet I have generally been 
very successful in overcoming it, and 
restoring my patient to health, and the 
useful and happy enjoyment of life. 

Patients are very apt to resort to certain 
well-known specifics and patent medicines 
to help them in this disease ; but they are 
unsafe and unreliable. The trusted and 
well-tried physician can only be depended 
upon. Moral and hygienic remedies, 
rather than therapeutical agencies, are 
the most to be relied upon for a radical 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 469 

Impotence in woman may be due to firm 
adhesions of the labia pudendi ; exces- 
sively developed and persistent hymen ; 
absence, malformation, or an impervious 
condition of the vagina; obliteration of 
this canal through inflammation; tumors 
of the vagina, or uterine tumors, which 
have passed into the vaginal canal ; closure 
of the uterine cavity by tumors, cancer, 
etc. ; malposition of the uterus ; acute 
retroflexion or anteflexion ; inflammatory 
affections of the uterus ; a closing up of 
the Fallopian tubes ; disease of their 
fringed extremities ; vaginal fistulae, or 
complete rupture of the perineum, allow- 
ing improper escape of the seminal fluid, 
etc. 

Sterility in woman is a different affair 
altogether from impotency. The former 
precludes the idea of coition, or the act of 
copulation, whilst the latter admits coition 
and most generally enjoys it, even to dan- 



470 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

gerous excess. Amongst other causes, 
sterility frequently arises from amenor- 
rhea ; exhaustion, or excessively general 
weakness ; too frequent, or imperfect 
sexual- excitement, or a restraint of the 
organism, i. e., the passionate impulse, or 
pleasurable sensation experienced during 
the indulgence of the sexual act. Absence, 
arrest of development, or disease of the 
ovaries ; leucorrhoea, especially when the 
discharge is abundant and acrid ; by 
causing the destruction of the spermatozoa 
before they reach an ovule. 

For the treatment of sterility no specific 
directions can be given, except by the 
consulting physician, with his patient be- 
fore him. There are very few cases which 
may not be cured. Among the thousands 
whom I have treated for this difficulty, I 
have found only those in which idiopathic 
obstructions existed, that I could not suc- 
cessfully relieve. There are no specifics 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 471 

for it, and what would remove every obsta- 
cle in one case, might prove useless in 
others. Great attention to promote the 
general health, removal of functional 
derangements, regularity, exercise, free- 
dom from care and anxiety, moderation in 
sexual indulgence, and then only at proper 
periods, just after the cessation of the 
monthly flow, with a few medicines which 
the skilful physician ought to know how 
to prepare and administer, with words of 
encouragement and hope, will generally 
accomplish all that is desirable. 

You had better state your case to some 
well known physician, who has an estab- 
lished reputation as a specialist in such 
cases, with your hopes and wishes, and he 
will direct you what to do. 

Mammary Abscess. Milk Abscess, or 
Abscess of the Breast. May be acute or 
chronic ; the former a result of active 
inflammation. It forms either in the sub- 



472 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

stance of the gland, or between the gland 
and skin, or between the gland and ehest 
walls. In acute cases, the symptoms are, 
frequent occurrence of rigors during the 
progress of inflammation. Engorgement 
of the breast ; deep-seated or diffused 
burning pains ; throbbing, and sense of 
heavy weight ; formation of a painful point 
or knot in the breast, etc. The chronic 
form of this complaint is of a more serious 
character. The lump, or knot in the 
breast, is apt to be mistaken for a malig- 
nant tumor. Matter forms very slowly ; 
may be the result of scrofula, or derange- 
ment of the general health, without any 
inflammatory symptoms. It occurs in 
child-bearing, as well as in the sterile 
women. The first indications are : a hard- 
ness of the gland, and soreness about the 
nipple ; an imperfectly circumscribed and 
uneven tumor can be detected ; fluctuation 
indistinct. Nipple may be drawn in. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 473 

Adhesion occurs between the tumor and 
skin. The treatment should be tonic 
and stimulating. Nourishing food; malt 
liquors ; free punctures and draining tube ; 
pressure ; poultices and strapping applied 
to the breast. Attention to the digestive 
and uterine organs. 

Mammary Hypertrophy, or Enlargement 
of one or both breasts may occur in single 
or married women. Usually one gland 
first begins to enlarge, and slowly in- 
creases in size. At the end of a^year or 
so the other breast gets affected. There 
are no inflammatory symptoms, induration 
or pain. The enlargement becomes bur- 
densome and unsightly. The affected gland 
may project firmly from the thorax; or it 
may hang flabby and loose — a pendulous 
breast. In many cases, the uterine func- 
tions are out of order, and imperfectly per- 
formed. The general health usually im- 
paired. The causes are frequently owing 



474 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

to masturbation or self-abuse, sometimes 
to imperfect sexual intercourse. I have 
seen cases where both breasts were 
affected, in which they hang down nearly 
to the navel. The treatment in these 
cases is very difficult, and in the hands of 
an unskilful and incompetent physician, 
very unsatisfactory. There should be 
great attention given to the uterine func- 
tions. Pressure should be applied by 
strips of ammoniac and mercury or mercu- 
rial, or litharge, or belladonna plaster ; or 
by spring-pads, or air-cushions. Where 
the patient is pregnant, a hope of cure 
may be entertained when milk begins 
to flow. Various preparations, amongst 
others, of iodine have been largely tried 
but seldom with any benefit. The clitoris 
has sometimes been cut away, but I very 
much doubt the expediency of this. In 
very severe cases, one or both breasts 
have been amputated. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 475 

Mammary Tumors. The female breast 
is liable to become the seat of several 
varieties of tumor. Some are simple; arid 
with one or two exceptions, are composed 
of elements more or less resembling those 
entering into the composition of the struc- 
ture of the gland itself. Others are malig- 
nant, and are formed of elements foreign 
to the healthy organism. Among them 
we may name : 

1. Lacteal, or Milk Tumor, which is a 
distension of one or more of the milk tubes, 
owing to a closing up of the orifices ; or a 
rupture of a milk passage, with escape of 
its contents into the surrounding connec- 
tive tissue. This occurs whilst giving 
suck. The symptoms are, the appearance 
of a small cyst or lump, varying in size 
from that of a walnut to that of an orange, 
which, when recent, is elastic and fluctu- 
ating. As the serous portion of the milk 
gets absorbed, the tumor becomes firmer, 



476 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and feels almost solid. There is generally 
absence of pain, and the general health 
unaffected. The enlargement commonly 
discovered by accident, when the patient 
very likely becomes very much alarmed, 
fearing cancer. The treatment should 
consist in free puncture, and keeping the 
wound open until all discharge ceases ; 
sometimes a cure cannot be effected until 
milk ceases to be secreted, and the infant 
weaned. It will be a favorable symptom, 
if slight inflammation and suppuration fol- 
low the puncture, as cure will be likely to 
follow, as in the case of ordinary abscess. 
2. Fatty Tumors. Masses of fat may 
be developed within the breast, or in front 
or behind it, and give rise to an appear- 
ance of mammary enlargement. Such 
tumors grow slowly, and sometimes attain 
a weight of several pounds, and are not 
only inconvenient from their bulk, but an 
unpleasant disfigurement of the person. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 477 

3. Cartilaginous and bony tumors, have 
been found in the breasts on some occa- 
sions. 

4. Chronic Mammary Tumors ; gener- 
ally commence in healthy women between 
the time of puberty and the thirtieth year ; 
single, more liable to them than married 
women. The growth of this kind of 
tumor is slow, and an enormous size may 
ultimately be obtained. It sometimes 
remains stationary for a long time, and 
rapidly increases in bulk. It may then as 
rapidly diminish in size, owing to an 
absorption of the fluid in the cysts, but 
never disappears entirely. The symptoms 
are ; at the commencement of the tumor 
begins a small, movable lump, and appears 
isolated from the gland tissue ; is not 
painful, and does not involve the skin ; but 
the real "breasts may shrink away. The 
treatment should be adapted to the pecu- 
liarities of the patient; remedies to induce 



478 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

absorption are apt to injure the general 
health. If the growth is rapid and in- 
creasing, a surgical operation may be 
necessary. 

5. Inflammation of the Nipple, is very 
common at the commencement of the milk 
secretion and giving suck. There are some- 
times very painful ulcers, fissures, chaps 
or cracks. The great suffering sometimes 
impairs the general health, occasioning 
constant dread of injury, mental depres- 
sion, loss of appetite and restless nights. 
The disease may often be prevented by 
bathing the nipple night and morning 
during the last few weeks of pregnancy, 
with astringents, such as Port wine, or 
sugared lime water. Many curative 
measures are recommended, but whatever 
may be done, extreme care should be 
taken that the nipple should be well dried 
after nursing, and the child should not be 
allowed to lie with it in its mouth, after a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 479 

proper meal. Nipple shields of glass, or 
vulcanized India rubber should be used to 
afford protection during nursing. As 
direct applications the following formulae 
will be found useful : — 

E. Glycerine, fluid ounces, 1 ; Liquoris 
Plumbi Subacetatis, fluid drachms, 2 ; 
Spiritus Rectificati, fluid drachms, 4 ; 
Aequse Rosse, fluid ounces, 8 ; mix, and 
moisten the nipple frequently. Or, 
Zinci Sulphatis, grains, 16 ; Spiritus 
Rosmarini, Tincture Lavendulge Com- 
postse, of each fluid drachms, 2 ; 
water, fluid ounces, 8 ; mix. 

Either of the above, as lotions, are 
sufficiently astringent, cooling, and of the 
kind, most excellent. Ointments, when 
indicated by dryness of the skin, etc., of 
Balsam of Peru and spermaciti, glycerine 
and almond oil, or dusting the nipple with 
powdered spermaciti, or oxide of zinc, tied 



480 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

up in a muslin bag, will be found to afford 
great relief as well as protection against 
the irritation likely to be produced by the 
dress. 

The above, with many other diseases of 
the breast less common, are often causes 
of great pain, disquietude and distress, 
and should be carefully looked after by the 
nurse or patient herself. They may in- 
duce permanent disorders of a serious 
nature, and it is always better and safer in 
the first instance to have the assistance of 
a physician. The reader will have per- 
ceived what the dangerous and malignant 
nature of many of these diseases of the 
breast really are ; and how unwise it would 
be to rely either for relief or cure upon the 
uncertain prescriptions of unskilful prac- 
titioners. There are many home remedies 
I know, always ready at hand, which may 
afford temporary relief, and it is always 
very proper to apply them, but as perma- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 481 

manent relief can only bo expected from 
an improvement of the general health, the 
doctor had better be consulted. Among 
other disorders of the breasts, that of 

Mastodynia, or Neuralgia, is not an 
unfrequent one ; the symptoms of which 
are heat, and more or less swelling of the 
affected breast ; sometimes the lumps 
rather firmer than is natural ; more fre- 
quently the gland is healthy to the touch ; 
the pain is of a wearying aching character, 
it may be very acute, subject to variations 
like neuralgia elsewhere. It is most com- 
monly due to some ovarian or uterine 
irritation. In many women the breasts 
are irritable and tender at the commence- 
ment of each menstrual period, and the 
general health seldom good. Loss of 
appetite, constipation, restless nights, and 
anxiety are the premonitory symptoms 
of the complaint. Young infants, and 
children about the age of puberty are 



482 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

liable to enlargement and tenderness of 
the breasts. Sometimes there is consider- 
able secretion of milk. The disorder often 
subsides spontaneously, provided the nurse 
or assistants do not keep up an irritation, 
by their too officious applications. I have 
more than once seen abscesses in the 
breasts of an infant, occasioned by the 
nurse using friction with oil " to rub the 
milk away." The proper treatment would 
be an effort to cure the disorder on which 
the pain depends. Removal of any ova- 
rian or uterine irritation, careful attention 
to diet, exercise, clothing, etc. Among 
therapeutical remedies the following will 
be found serviceable : — 
R. Tincture of Cinchonae, Comp., one 
fluid ounce ; Tincture of Aconite, 
thirty drops ; Tincture of Serpentaria, 
or Acetated Tincture of Racemose, 
three fluid drachms ; Essence of 
Peppermint eight fluid ounces. Mix, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 483 

Take one-sixth part three times a day. 
Preparations of ammonia and bark, castor 
oil, friction of the breasts with belladonna 
liniments ; support by strapping or band- 
age if the breast be pendulous, will be 
found very beneficial. I recommend any 
of these, as offering the safest means of 
temporary relief only. The doctor is the 
only reliable resource, and then only after 
he has examined the difficulty. 

The Ovaries, are in the female analagous 
to the testicle of the male ; that is, both of 
them secrete a product indispensible to 
reproduction. They are two in number, 
and are situated on the sides of the womb, 
just behind the Fallopian tubes, but vary 
in situation, according to the age of the 
individual, and the state of the uterus. 
These organs contain the ovule, or egg, 
from which, after fecundation by the male 
sperm, is formed the incipient human 
being. The ovaries are often liable to 



484 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

various diseases and accidents among 
them 

Ovarian Displacements. One or both 
ovaries are occasionally forced out of posi- 
tion by some uterine or other tumor, or an 
ovary may escape from the pelvis, forming 
a true hernia. Displacements of the first 
kind usually aggravate the symptoms 
of the disease causing them, but the pain 
often ceases if the tumor increase in size, 
and passes upwards out of the pelvic 
cavity. Displacement of the second class 
may be congenital, that is, innate, or exist- 
ing from birth, or may happen accidentally 
after puberty. Occasionally, the ovary 
forms the contents of an inguinal (i. e. in 
the groin) renal, (belonging to the leg) or 
umbilical hernia. When anything of this 
kind is suspected, there should be no delay 
in applying to first-class surgical advice. 

Ovarian Tumor, synonymous with ova- 
rian dropsy j consists of a conversion of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 485 

the ovary, or parts of it, into cysts, or 
pouches containing morbid matter. These 
are of an extremely dangerous, and often 
fatal character. The symptoms are very 
slight in their early stages, and the disease 
generally escapes detection until the ab- 
domen begins to be enlarged. And here 
the poor patient, however unexceptionable 
her character may have been, is likely to 
become the object of unjust suspicion and 
ungenerous reports. Her increased size 
indicating it, she is charged with being 
* in the family way," and neither her 
protestations or denials are credited until 
too late. In some cases the tumor, while 
in the pelvic cavity, causes irritation of 
the rectum and bladder ; there is a sense 
of weight and oppression ; pain and numb- 
ness down the thigh of the affected side. 
Back-ache ; menstruation not materially af- 
fected, usually regular, but perhaps a little 
abundant. 



486 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

In more advanced stages there is great 
pain and tenderness, with distension of the 
abdomen. Menstruation gets disordered 
and irregular ; loss of flesh ; constipation 
and indigestion follow ; then, loss of appe- 
tite ; restless nights ; frequent mictura- 
tion; scanty urine; difficult and labored 
breathing ; swelling of the thighs and legs ; 
patient's sufferings greatly augmented, 
and her movements impeded from the size 
of the tumor ; rapid decline, with occa- 
sional suppression of the urine. The treat- 
ment in these cases must be prompt and 
bold. No faint-hearted physician, or un- 
skilled hand should be trusted here. Ab- 
dominal tapping is the first method indi- 
cated for relief, followed by well adapted 
pressure, and the administration of proper 
alteratives and resolvents. Drugs to pro- 
duce absorption are worse than useless. 
The following prescription will be found 
highly beneficial: — 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 487 

R. Iodide of Potassium, fifteen to thirty 
grains ; Wine of Colchicum, half a fluid 
drachm ; Tincture of Hyoscyainus, two 
fluid drachms ; Sulphate Magnesia, 
two hundred and twenty grains ; in- 
fusion of Mayweed, eight fluid ounces. 
Mix, and take one-sixth part three 
times a day. 
Neuralgia. I insert this, not because 
I consider it of the class of diseases of 
which this list is especially designed to 
instruct the reader, although one variety 
of it, Sciatica, is most frequently due to 
uterine difficulties, syphilitic taint, etc. ; 
but the disease having become somewhat 
a popular one, and by many regarded as 
the cause of almost every pain or ache 
experienced about the face or head, I 
have thought that something said about it 
would be generally acceptable. The term 
Neuralgia is derived from two Greek 
words, signifying suffering nerve, and is 



488 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

generally indicated by violent pain in the 
trunk or branch of a nerve, occurring in 
paroxysms, perhaps at nearly equi-distant 
intervals. It may attack the nerves of the 
head, trunk, or extremities, and it is those 
situated beneath the skin of these regions 
which suffer most frequently. There are 
three varieties : — 

(1). Tic Douloureux ; which chiefly af- 
fects the forehead and face with excruci- 
ating pain, shooting over the cheek, lower 
eyelids, also of the nose and upper lip. 
Another branch of it is usually confined to 
the lower teeth nerves, and the pain is 
experienced in the lower lip, gums, teeth, 
chin, and side of the tongue. Whichever 
nerve suffers, the torture is equally con- 
fined to that side of the face where the 
nerve is situated. The attack comes on 
suddenly, and the patient at once puts up 
a hand to press the seat of suffering; it 
greatly increases in severity, becomes 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 489 

lancilating and burning, and then ceases 
in the course of a few seconds. The 
attacks are perhaps preceded by some 
derangement of the digestive organs ; by 
difficult and labored breathings ; by slight 
rigors, followed by heat. Sometimes the 
sufferer will be free of it for weeks, and 
then there will occur almost constant par- 
oxysms for many days. It may be due to 
dyspepsia ; ansemia, (deficiency of blood) 
renal disease ; disease of the facial bones ; 
organic disease of the brain ; disease of the 
teeth and gums, etc., etc. 

(2). Hemicrania ; or half the skull. 
Headache affecting one side of the brow 
and forehead. Often accompanied with 
sickness, sometimes periodical. Has been 
called sun-pain j as at times it only con- 
tinues so long as the sun is above the 
horizon. 

(3). Sciatica; indicated by acute pain 
following the course of the great sciatic 



490 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

nerve, (the largest of all the nerves, and 
is distributed chiefly to the muscles of the 
thigh). It extends from the sciatic notch 
(hip joint) down the back part of the thigh, 
along the space back of the knee-joint, and 
along the nerves of the leg to the foot. 
It may be due to a pressure of intestinal 
accumulations, or of simple or malignant 
uterine tumors, inflammation, rheumatism, 
or gouty or syphilitic taint, over-fatigue, 
exposure to cold or wet. In the treatment 
of neuralgia, the general remedies should 
be ; nourishing diet, with prudent use of 
tonic, and slightly stimulating drinks, such 
as old ale, stout, etc. ; raw eggs ; milk, in 
place of tea or coffee. Warm clothing; 
flannel worn next the skin, or chamois 
leather jackets and drawers ; Avarm, tepid, 
or cold salt-water baths ; Turkish bath ; 
friction of the skin. Medicines having a 
tendency to keep the bowels open, slightly 
purgative and tonic, are proper. In the 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 491 

absence of a physician, any of the following 

will be found serviceable : — 

E. Composite Decoction of Aloes, Com., 
infusion of Gentian Root ; of ' each, 
four fluid ounces ; Liquor Potassas, two 
fluid drachms. Mix and take one 
sixth part early every morning. Or, 

E. Sulphate Sodse, Preciptate Sulphur, 
of each, one and a half ounce. Mix, 
take one teaspoonful in a tumbler full 
of milk and water early in the morn- 
ing. 

Or, where there is dyspepsia, or sup- 
pressed menstration : — ■ 

E. Pepsine, 32 grains ; Extract Barba- 
does Aloes, 8 grains ; Glycerine suf- 
ficient to make a mass. Divide into 
8 pills, one to be taken daily at 
dinner. 
Preparations of Iodide of Iron and cod- 
liver oil, Iodide of Potassium, Colchicum, 



492 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Phosphate of Iron, under the directions of 
the physician, are found more or less use- 
ful, whilst local applications and the 
removal of decayed teeth will be found to 
produce the happiest results. The ex- 
ternal application of iodine, dusting the 
surface with morphia, spray of pure ether, 
hot douches of medicated water, galvanism, 
and dry cupping will all naturally assist in 
relieving the pain and quieting the nerv- 
ous agitation. 

Persons affected by neuralgia, which 
they have cause to suspect may arise 
from any derangement of the generative 
organs, or in fact from any cause what- 
ever, should at once consult some reliable 
physician, and avoid unnecessary dabbling 
in drugs unadvised. But let it be remem- 
bered that, every pain in the head or face 
is not neuralgia, nor apply that term to 
transient flashes of pain, or slight aches, 
the causes of which may be fairly traced to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 493 

other causes less obscure and more easily 
disposed of. 

Ovaritis. Inflammation of the Ovary, 
occurs under two forms, — the acute and 
subacute, or chronic. 

1. Acute Ovaritis ; may arise from 
violence, the use of strong caustics, 
dilitation of the mouth of the womb with 
sponge tents, sudden suppression of the 
menses from shock, gonorrhoea, etc. The 
left ovary more frequently attacked than 
the right. The symptoms are ; pain, some- 
times very severe, causing paroxysms like 
labor pains ; more frequently of a dull, 
aching character, with occasionally sharp^ 
lancinating attacks, tenderness about the 
lower part of the abdomen, groin, and 
inner part of the thigh. Passage of hard- 
ened stools causing much suffering by pres- 
sure on the ovary. Fever; rapid pulse; 
nausea ; restlessness, with disgust for food. 
On examination by the touch, the swollen 



494 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and exquisitely sensitive ovary may be 
easily detected. If suppuration occur, 
there will be rigors ; quick and feeble 
pulse ; glazed red tongue ; excessive sick- 
ness, and a sense of weight and throbbing 
about the lower region of the abdomen. 
Should the abscess burst, it may set up 
severe inflammation of the pelvis. These 
cases are very tedious, and none but the 
most experienced physicians must be cal- 
led upon to attend them. In case medical 
assistance cannot conveniently be had, hot 
hip-baths should be administered night 
and morning; warm fomentations, with 
hemlock, or linseed poultices applied to 
the vulva (opening to the female genera- 
rative organs), hypogastric (the abdominal 
space above the pubes) and the inguinal 
(near the groin) regions. The rectum 
should be cleared of all foecal accumula- 
tions by enemas of olive oil, etc. Prepar- 
ations of Iodide of Potassium, etc,, may be 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 495 

given. The following recipes will be found 
useful : — 

R. Iodide Potassi, forty grains ; Tincture 
Rhubarb, one fluid ounce ; Extract 
Sarsaparilla, two fluid ounces. Mix. 
Take a small teaspoonful in a wine- 
glassful of water three times a day. 

Or, in cases where there has been gon- 
orrhoea at any former period, syphilis, 
scrofulous sores, etc. : — 

R. Iodide Potassi, thirty to ninety grains, 
(depending upon the age, strength, 
etc. of the patient) ; Glycerine, one 
fluid ounce ; Tincture of Aconite, 
twenty drops ; Wine of Ipecacuanhse, 
half a fluid drachm ; Juice of Dande- 
lion, six fluid drachms ; Decoction of 
Sarsaparilla Compound, eight fluid 
ounces. Mix, and take one-sixth part 
three times a day. A most excellent 
remedy* 



496 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

If the attack should be due to sudden 
suppression of the menses, suitable emmen- 
agogues should be given. 

2. Chronic Ovaritis is a very common 
disease durrag the period of sexual vigor. 
It runs a very tedious course, and may be 
set up by excessive sexual intercourse ; 
unskilful use of the uterine sound, or 
caustics, rheumatic, or syphilitic taints. 
The symptoms are; dull and continuous 
aching in the ovarian and sacral regions ; 
tenderness of the upper part of one or both 
thighs; scanty and difficult menstruation; 
great pain on sexual intercourse, (which 
had better be avoided). Irritability of the 
stomach, nausea, indigestion, constipation, 
flatulence. Fits of hysteria ; irritability of 
the bladder; swelling and tenderness of 
one or both breasts; attacks of nympho- 
mania (morbid and excessive sexual desire, 
often assuming a form of insanity) may 
arise from subacute ovaritis. The ovary, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 497 

on making a vaginal examination, will be 
found inflamed, swollen, and extremely 
sensitive. To say that such cases should 
at once have the attentions of a skilful 
medical adviser is superfluous, as no pru- 
dent woman will, under such circumstan- 
ces, attempt to doctor herself; she may, 
however, in the absence of the physician, 
take warm hip-baths, dress warm, and in 
every way strive to strengthen and fortify 
the system. The diet should be concen- 
trated, stimulating and nutricious ; such 
as underdone roast beef, beef-steaks, milk, 
raw egg's, etc. Gentle walking exercise 
in the open air. 

The following prescription maybe taken 
very beneficially : — 

R. Bromide of Ammonium, twelve to sixty 
grains ; Infusion of Orange Peel, eight 
fluid ounces. Mix, and take one-sixth 
part three times a day, an hour before 
meals. 



498 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

This preparation is highly recommended 
for diseases in which the nervous system 
is functionally involved, as epilepsy, etc. 
It is a valuable absorbent in glandular 
enlargements, and in excessive corpulency ; 
while it has also a peculiar soothing in- 
fluence upon the mucous membranes. Cod- 
liver Oil, Ammonia and bark. Iodide of 
Iron and Cod-liver Oil, etc., are all very 
valuable remedies, but should be prepared 
under the direction of the physician. 
Strong purgatives should be especially 
avoided, as also should sexual intercourse. 

Pelvic Cellulitis. Inflammation of the 
cellular, or areolar tissue of the pelvis, 
occurs mostly in connection with abortion, 
or lingering labor at full term. Also as a 
consequence of external violence, uterine 
disease, or some scrofulous state of the 
system. This disease is very apt to come 
on quite insidiously, most commonly, how- 
ever, it arises from some constitutional 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 499 

disturbance. The patient has fever, head- 
ache, restlessness ; much local pain, throb- 
bing and tenderness ; aching pains in the 
limbs ; difficult micturation, with a bearing 
down sensation ; nausea and vomiting ; 
painful swelling, somewhat felt at the 
lower part of the abdomen ; always easily 
detected by a vaginal examination. If the 
morbid action be allowed to go on to sup- 
puration, that is, to the formation of pus, 
with increased severity of general symp- 
toms, the case may become exceedingly 
severe and dangerous. Rigors, with se- 
vere throbbings and tenderness will inter- 
vene. Neuralgic pains down the thighs. 
Pus may be discharged into the upper 
part of the vagina or bladder, or the larger 
intestines or rectum ; sometimes into the 
peritoneum, (serous membrane lining the 
abdominal cavity) causing peritonitis, or 
inflammation of the peritoneum ; or it may 
burrow and make its escape externally. 



500 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Troublesome seams, or sinuses are some- 
times produced, and pus formed again and 
again for months. The treatment for such 
cases should be soothing, antiphlogistic, 
and tonic ; cathartics of Castor Oil, Rhubarb 
and Magnesia, Citrate of Ammonia, or 
Potash, Morphia, Chloroform and Indian 
Hemp, Ammonia and Bark, hot hip-baths, 
fomentations, Linseed poultices, hot water, 
vaginal injections. Strengthening food, 
such as milk, raw eggs, beef-tea, with ani- 
mal food as soon as the stomach can bear it. 
These directions are given, not to avoid, 
but as a timely resource until, the physi- 
cian can be called. It will be seen that 
such cases are of too serious a character 
to be trifled with, or entrusted to the 
direction of uneducated, or unskilled advi- 
sers. How many lives have I known sac- 
rificed ; how many interesting, but unfor- 
tunate girls and women destroyed by mere 
lack of care and attention, under circum- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 501 

» 
stances where, perhaps, their character 
was somewhat involved, solely through 
fear, or a false delicacy in not calling in, 
at once, an experienced medical attendant, 
and confiding to him all the circumstances 
and causes of their troubles. This is a 
serious and growing evil, and occasions 
much mischief every way. Physicians are 
frequently called upon, after irreparable 
injury has been inflicted, and when, as it 
often happens, that the patient succumbs 
to a fate brought about by her own indis- 
cretions, or the mal-practice of some incom- 
petent person, the doctor is forced into an 
unfortunate publicity, as having been con- 
cerned in an " abortion case " of which he 
is as innocent as the child unborn. Coro- 
ner's inquests are holden, arrests are 
made, investigations had, bail required, 
and a sensation created entirely uncalled 
for, and to, perhaps, the lasting damage of 
an honorable man, or an unfortunate woman, 



502 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

simply that a little trouble and expense 
might be avoided in the onset. 

Pelvic Hematocele. An effusion of 
blood into the peritoneal pouch, between the 
uterus and rectum, or into the surrounding 
parts. The symptoms vary according to 
the amount of hemorrhage. If excessive, 
a severe nervous shock may follow. Ex- 
haustion, with acute pain in the lower part 
of the abdomen ; chilliness or shivering ; 
coldness of the extremities ; vomiting ; 
increased feebleness of circulation ; ghastly 
expression of countenance. Death may 
occur in a few hours. In case the loss of 
blood is great or excessive, there will be 
violent abdominal pain ; chilliness, followed 
by fever ; anxiety of countenance ; pinch- 
ing and pallor of face ; difficult mictura- 
tion, with frequent desire to empty the 
bladder; irritability of rectum ; perhaps a 
sudden cessation of catamania, if the flow 
be on at the time. Pulvic tumor likely to 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 503 

arise ; appreciable through the abdominal 
and vaginal walls. 

In a third class of cases the symptoms 
have the same character, but are less acute 
than the foregoing. The Pelvic tumor may 
only be discovered by vaginal examina- 
tion ; danger of peritonitis, and of haemor- 
rhage returning after an interval. While 
absorption may be hoped for 7 prompt and 
energetic measures should be taken to 
arrest the disease. In acute cases, the 
treatment should consist of stimulants and 
anodynes ; brandy, wine and opium in large 
doses. Mustard poultices to the feet ; 
bladders of ice to the lower part of the 
abdomen, and to the vulva. When the 
loss of blood has been moderate, there 
should be perfect repose, in a recumbent 
posture. Opium in sufficient doses to 
relieve pain and prevent faintness. Ice, or 
mustard poultices over the stomach ; cold 
applications to the vulva. The following 



504 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

prescriptions will be found exceedingly 
beneficial at different stages of the com- 
plaint : — 

R. Gallic Acid, fifteen to twenty-five 
grains j Aromatic Sulphuric Acid, 
fifteen to twenty drops ; Tincture of 
Cinnamon, 2 fluid drachms ; pure 
water, 2 fluid ounces. Make a draught 
to be taken every four hours, until 
the bleeding ceases. Or, in less 
urgent cases : — 

R. Gallic Acid, twelve grains ; powdered 
Ipecacuanha and Opium, five grains. 
Make a powder, to be taken every 
eight or twelve hours. Regulate the 
quantities according to the number of 
powders likely to be needed. 

When the flowing is quite passive, the 
following mixture : — 

R. Exsiccated (dried) Alum, 60 grains; 
Syrup of red corn poppy, (Papaver 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 505 

rhoeas) six fluid drachms ; Acidulated 
infusion of Rose leaves, eight fluid 
ounces (one pint). Mix. Take two 
table spoonsful every six hours. 

Puerperal Mania. A peculiar form of 
insanity, occurring to women soon after 
delivery. The symptoms are, restlessness, 
sleeplessness, severe pain in the head, 
diminution of the secretion of milk. Skin 
hot and dry ; pulse full and thick ; tongue 
thickly furred ; often great debility ; per- 
haps prostration from flooding, lingering 
labor, or some morbid poison in the system. 
Delirium frequently very violent ; great 
general irritation ; tendency to commit 
suicide, or child murder. The treatment 
should be ; first to arouse and support the 
powers of the patient ; and second, to allay 
the irritability of the brain and nervous 
system. For the first, give brandy and 
egg mixture, prepared as follows : 



506 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Take the whites and yolks of three eggs 
and beat them up in four ounces of plain 
water. Add slowly three or four ounces 
of brandy, with a little sugar and nutmeg. 
Two table spoonsful should be given every 
four or six hours. In some cases of great 
prostration, the efficacy of the mixture is 
much increased by the addition of one 
drachm of the tincture of yellow cinchona 
to each dose. Preparations of Bark and 
Ammonia, Cod-liver Oil. Pounded beef in 
broth, wine, beer, milk. To allay the brain, 
and nervous irritability : — 

R. Extract of Stramonium, three grains ; 
Extract of Hyoscyamus, twenty grains ; 
Extract of Hops (Lupuli) forty grains. 
Mix and divide into twelve pills ; one 
to be taken every four hours until 
relief is obtained. 

Where there is great inclination to 
sleeplessness ;— • 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 507 

K. Extract of Opium, one third to one full 
grain ; or the Hydrochlorate of Morphia, 
one quarter to one full grain ; Extract 
of Hyoscyamus, three grains. Make 
one pill, to be taken at bed time. 

When a patient has arrived to that con- 
dition in which preparations such as the 
foregoing, are deemed necessary, she will 
of course have the attendance of a compe- 
tent physician, who will be able to direct 
what is proper to be done. The patient 
should be in charge of a trained and trusty 
nurse, and it may be prudent to keep from 
her room the visits, or attendance of her 
family and friends, until the violence of 
the attack abates, and symptoms yield to 
the remedies given. 

Pyrosis. Generally known under the 
name of Heart-burn, Water-brash, etc. 
Exhibits itself under a form of indigestion, 
in which there is frequent eructation of a 
thin, watery, and acid, or tasteless fluid. 



508 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Very common with women, with whom a 
favorite remedy for it is u to eat a piece of 
chalk. 77 The complaint often exists in con- 
nection with some derangement of the ner- 
vous or uterine system ; or with organic 
disease of the stomach, pancreas, or liver. 
As indigestion is oftenest the cause of this 
painful sensation, so a careful attention 
should be given to diet. Animal food less 
likely to produce it than vegetable ; a 
saccharated solution of lime and milk is 
often found to allay the burning sensation, 
and give relief. 

It. .Saccharated solution of lime and milk, 
one to four drachms ; add four ounces 
of Milk. Mix, and drink. 
Carbonate of Magnesia is very useful. 

Uterus. A term derived from the Latin 
word Titer , meaning a " bottle of skin or 
leather/' and applied to the womb. What 
this is/ is generally understood ; but as I 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 509 

design to allude to some diseases of this 
organ, I deem it necessary, even at the 
risk of repetition, to explain as concisely as 
I can, its location and characteristics. 
The womb, then, is a hollow muscular 
organ, designed for the lodgment and nour- 
ishment of the foetus from the moment of 
conception until birth. In its ordinary 
condition, it is a compact, fleshy body, 
about three inches in length, two inches in 
its greatest breadth, shaped somewhat like 
a flattened pear, the narrower portion 
being below. The upper, or broader part 
is termed the fundus, the contracted por- 
tion is called the cervix, or neck, and the 
external orifice, communicating with the 
vagina, the os tincce, or os uteri. At the 
superior (upper) angles it sends off the 
Fallopian tubes, which, when conception 
takes place, receive the ovule or ovules 
from the ovary, and convey them to the 
uterus. 



510 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

The diseases of the uterus are all of such 
character as to require the aid of skilful 
medical attendance, and should never be 
experimented on or tampered with by 
either the person afflicted, or attending 
nurses. The whole subject is one of great 
delicacy, and any information upon the 
subject which I should attempt to convey 
in the brief space allotted to each subject 
in this catalogue, would embarrass, rather 
than benefit the reader. I therefore very 
properly, I think, pass it by, merely stating 
the fact that for the most part all 

Uterine troubles or difficulties have 
their origin in some congenital or acciden- 
tal malformation, or displacement, which 
the surgeon alone can remedy or alleviate 
by , operation, according to the necessities 
of the case after careful examination ; inter- 
nal administration of medicine in such 
cases being, for the most part, entirely 
useless. Displacements of the uterus are 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 511 

oftener the causes of sterility in the female 
than all other causes put together, and 
until such displacements, or other struc- 
tural obstacles to the free passage of the 
male semen, or spermatozoa into the uterus 
are overcome by replacement, excisions of 
the os thieve, or incision, in order to render 
access to the germ, or egress to the secre- 
tions possible, conception is completely 
impossible. Of the various troubles to 
which the uterus is subject, those of ante- 
version, and retroversion are the most fre- 
quent. These are called displacements; 
and whilst they remain so, are the occasion 
of more or less suffering, painful to be 
borne, undermining the general health, 
and, as before stated, utterly precluding 
any possibility of conception. 

Naturally, and in proper position, the 
uterus rests upon the vagina, at nearly 
right angles with it, the fundus, or upper 
part pointing somewhat in the direction of 



512 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

the navel. It may be tilted a little, one 
way or the other, without the position 
being necessarily considered as " out of 
the way." If it turn forwards or back- 
wards for twenty-five or thirty degrees, it 
may not amount to a mal-position ; but if it 
inclines so far as forty degrees in either 
direction, without soon rectifying itself, it 
is out of place, and usually goes from bad 
worse, till the mal-position becomes fixed 
and persistent. 

Anteversion, is when the fundus, or upper 
part of the womb is thrown forward, so as 
to compress the neck of the bladder, which 
lies almost directly in front of it. 

Retroversion, is that condition in which 
the fundus is thrown backward towards, 
or upon the rectum. The physical symp- 
toms in either case are, a dull, wearying 
backache ; tenderness about the groins and 
inside the thighs ; a sense of fulness in the 
rectum or bladder; pain from sexual inter- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 513 

course ; leuchorrhoea ; dysmennorrhoea ; 
nausea; loss of appetite; mental depres- 
sion ; listeria, etc. Menstruation not ne- 
cessarily interfered with. Whilst but very 
little, or no reliance can be placed upon 
therapeutical agencies, still, there are occa- 
sions when the administration of internal 
remedies may be found of great service, 
either in mitigating pain, or quieting the 
nervous system, giving nature a chance to 
recuperate and rally her forces to her own 
relief. Quinine, steel and nux vomica, in 
combination, as a tonic, is often found very 
serviceable. 

Vaginitis. Inflammation of the vagina. 
It may be either acute or chronic. The 
former is not very common ; but the latter, 
better known as The. Wliites, or Vaginal 
Leuchorrhoea, is one of the most common 
diseases to which women (particularly the 
married) are liable. It is characterized by 
a constant or frequent leuchorrhoeal dis- 



514 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

charge, '-the whites," accompanied with 
backache ; and sense of weariness after 
slight exertion ; loss of appetite ; indiges- 
tion ; flatulence and constipation ; mental 
depression, etc. Sometimes the discharge 
is so profuse, and of such an acrid charac- 
ter, as to produce exfoliation, or a peeling off 
the outer skin of the mucous membrane of 
the vagina ; coming off in flakes, or some- 
times in masses, forming complete casts of 
that organ. 

Very few complaints are more annoying, 
or so troublesome, not only by reason of 
its debilitating effects, but by the irrita- 
tion and discomfort produced by the con- 
stant dripping. 

The causes of this disease are undoubt- 
edly a general relaxed state of the system ; 
neglect of cleanliness ; depression of the 
vital powers; want of energy, etc. 

The treatment for this, as for all similar 
disorders, where a general weakness is in- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 515 

dicated, should be tonic and stimulating ; 
out of doors exercise ; industrious appli- 
cation to some useful employment; cheer- 
ful society ; substantial food ; regular 
hours ; and a determined purpose in life. 
Females troubled in this way are generally 
cold-blooded, suspicious, and very little 
disposed to amorous indulgences. 

Vulvitis. Several forms of trouble- 
some inflammation may attack the vulva, 
(which we have already described). 

Simple Vulvitis. Is not very uncommon 
from want of cleanliness, excessive inter- 
course, venerial taint, or irritation of the 
adjoining parts. The symptoms are, pain 
and tenderness, swelling, mucous discharge, 
heat or scalding during micturation, aching 
about the loins, groins and thighs, with con- 
stitutional disturbance. The treatment 
should be such as to purify the blood, and 
to throw off the humors from the system. 
Seidlitz Powders, effervescing Citrate of 



516 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

Magnesia, cold hip-baths, alum or lead 
lotions, avoidance of all stimulants. 

2. Follicular Inflammation of the Vulva. 
An accumulation of sebaceous matter, or 
an inflammation of sebaceous follicles, 
scattered over the mucous membrane of 
the vulva. Both sides of the vaginal 
entrance usually affected ; with tissues 
within the nymphee, and at the base of the 
clitoris. This is a very intractable and 
stubborn disorder, and is most common 
during pregnancy, and at about the change 
of life. The symptoms are ; the parts are 
found more or less inflamed, and studded 
with numerous raised vascular points, 
sometimes having specks of ulceration on 
their summits. Soon the points run 
together, forming a strip of highly injected 
mucous membrane ; subsequently the vas- 
cularity (the little blisters) disappear, and 
the tissues look as if covered with white 
paint ; a disturbance of the general health, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 517 

constriction of the circular muscle, which 
contracts the vagina. Leucorrhoea; irri- 
tation and smarting of the genitals. Sexual 
intercourse very painful, pains in the back 
and thighs. The treatment should be both 
local and general. An application to the 
parts affected of morphia and hydrocyanic 
acid lotion ; tobacco lotion ; glycerine and 
lime-water ; iodide of lead and belladona3 
ointment; hemlock poultices-; warm hip- 
baths, containing extract of poppies and 
soda. 

Caustics and astringents should be care- 
fully avoided. For local treatment the 
following recipes may be selected from : — 

R. Liquoris Morphias Hydrochloratis, half 
a fluid ounce ; Liquoris Potassae, two 
fluid drachms ; Glycerine, one fluid 
ounce ; Aquas Laurocerasi, one fluid 
ounce ; Aquas Sambuci, eight fluid 
ounces. Make a wash and use it 



518 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

morning and night. Or ; the common 
tobacco lotion may be freely used, 
made as follows : — Take of common 
plug tobacco about a quarter of an 
ounce, and steep it in a pint of water, 
strain it, and use'it freely as a wash. 

Tor general treatment, the food should 
be plain and nourishing, avoiding highly- 
seasoned dishes, coffee, wine and beer ; 
change of air highly beneficial. Great 
attention should be given to cleanliness of 
person. 

3. Pudendal Erythema, or a general 
inflammation, redness or itching of the 
female generative organs, arises from neg- 
lect and want of cleanliness, or from exces- 
sive exhalation of moisture in stout, middle 
aged women, the surfaces of the labia and 
perineum and upper part of inside the 
thighs become the seat of a burning and 
itching irruption. The parts becoming of 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 519 

a bright red color ; with sensation of heat 
and great discomfort. By neglect, or in- 
temperate living, it may assume a very 
painful form, and end in erysipelas. The 
best way to get rid of this trouble, is to 
give particular attention to cleanliness by 
frequent bathing, keeping the parts most 
likely to become irritated dusted with 
Pearl Powder, or powdered Spermaceti. 
Fuller's earth is a common domestic rem- 
edy, and a very good one. 

Warty Growths, frequently spring up 
around the vulva and scattered* about the 
labia, nymphse, vestibule, perineum, and 
around the anus. They sometimes appear 
in large clusters, and give rise to irrita- 
tion and offensive moisture. They should, 
and may be, safely removed w T ith scissors, 
the sensibility may be destroyed with 
ether spray. If bleeding occurs, apply a 
solution of perchloride of iron, or any ordi- 
nary styptic. 



520 MEDICAL ADVISER. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 

LETTER FROM A YOUNG LADY. EARLY HIS- 
TORY. DECLINING HEALTH, SYMPTOMS OF 
HER COMPLAINT, LOSS OF APPETITE, PAINS 
IN THE HEAD AND BACK, WEAKNESS OF 
THE LIMBS AND FEET. MY REPLY AND 
COUNSELS IN THE CASE. LETTER FROM A 
MARRIED* LADY. DESCRIPTION OF HER 

CASE. MY REPLY. CASE OF A WASHING- 
TON BELLE. LETTER FROM A MARRIED 
LADY DESIROUS OF HAVING CHILDREN. 
MY REPLY. 

ALTHOUGH it is a general rule in my 
private medical correspondence to 
destroy all letters received by me contain- 
ing matters of a private and confidential 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 521 

nature, } T et there are many instances where 
the narrative is so interesting, and the 
nature of the case so grave and important, 
that I preserve, for future reference, such 
as I deem necessary to illustrate a princi- 
ple, or to establish a point essential to a 
correct knowledge of my theory, and mode 
of practice iu treating female complaints. 
Among others upon my files I find the 
following letters, upon which are endorsed 
a memorandum of my treatment of the 
several cases therein described; with a 
brief synopsis of the answers which I 
deemed it necessary and proper to write. 
Upon a reference to my diary I find that, 
in their publication I shall violate no rule 
of professional obligation, whilst in two or 
three cases' I have the express permission 
of the writers to do so. These letters will 
prove interesting and useful in exhibiting 
to my lady readers- and friends the great 
variety of circumstances under which my 



522 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

advice and assistance are sought, as they 
will also enable them to judge how far the 
symptoms and complaints therein described 
are analagous to their own ; and it may 
afford them some relief to find that, in 
other and similar cases the skill of the 
physician has not been resorted to in 
vain. 

[Letter from a Young Lady,] 

— — , 186 — 
.Dr. Frederic Morrill: 

Dear Sir: — Taking courage from the 
respectful manner in which I have often 
heard your name alluded to as a kind, 
considerate, and skilful physician, I ven- 
ture to address you a few lines in regard 
to myself, begging you to give them your 
careful thought and attention, and to give 
me such advice, and, if necessary, such 
medical assistance as you think best adapt- 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 523 

ed to my relief, for I assure you that I stand 

greatly in need of both. I enclose 

dollars, which I Ifcpe you will accept for 
the trouble I am about to give you ; and 
will, from time to time, make such further 
payments for the services you may render 
to me as shall abundantly satisfy you. I 
will now proceed to give you, in as brief a 
manner as I am able, such an account of 
my present ailments and troubles as will, I 
trust, enable you to perfectly understand 
my case. 

I am not yet eighteen years of age, am 
rather tall and slender in form, and of (I 
am told) a sanguine temperament. Some 

three years' ago I left my home in H , 

in the State of Maine, where I had, until 
that time, resided with my father ; having 
lost my mother when I was but five years 
old. Deprived of a mother's tender and 
anxious care at so early a period of my 
life, I was left to the tender mercies of 



524 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

hired help, relieved only by such occa- 
sional attentions and caresses as I could 
snatch from my father. * I grew up to 
fifteen, without those maternal instructions 
and examples, without which, I find, that, 
girl as I am, I have been unconsciously 
led astray, into habits and practices which 
are, I fear, fast conducting me to an early 
grave. Already has my health given way 
to that extent, that my friends, with whom 
I am staying, are fearful that 1 am going 
into a decline, and may die of consump- 
tion. I no longer enjoy the companion- 
ship of my young friends, my mind wan- 
ders, and in spite of every resolution to 
the contrary which I form, I feel myself 
daily growing more gloomy, capricious, 
and desponding. I have lost my former 
elasticity of step, and my lips and cheeks 
have assumed a deathly and ashen hue. 
My appetite has left me, and my nights are 
restless and uneasy. I have frequent and 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. o2o 

severe pains in my head, up and down my 
back, sides, and around my hips, whilst 
there is such weakness of the limbs and 
feet that exertion of any kind is irksome 
and oppressive. At the suggestion of my 
aunt I have occasionally taken various 
kinds of herb teas and other decoctions in 
which she has great faith, but which do not 
in the least degree benefit me. In fact, 
doctor, I feel that I am fast sinking into 
the grave unless I can find relief. I have 
heard others tell of your great skill in 
curing such cases as mine, and that, you 
are able, by even such an imperfect ac- 
count as I have given, to prescribe reme- 
dies which are sure to give relief. It 
would be utterly impossible for me to go 
to Boston and submit myself to any per- 
sonal examination by you ; but if I have 
omitted to state anything which you ought 
to know, write to me, and I will endeavor 
to inform you as truly and clearly as my 



526 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

present ill health will allow. Permit me 
to express the hope that you will pardon 
the freedom with which I have written, 
and that you will, with as little delay as 
possible, comply with my wish. 

Very respectfully, 

Harriet R . 



[My Answer.] 

Boston, , 186- 



Miss Harriet R- 



Your letter of duly came to hand. 

Its length, and the deeply interesting 
nature of its contents, induced me to lay 
it aside for a day or two, in order that I 
might find time to give it something more 
than passing attention. Although I know 
from the symptoms and peculiarities of 
your case, such as you describe them to 
me, that unaided and unrelieved by medi- 
cal advice, and the necessary remedies for 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 527 

the recovery of your health r you are expos- 
ed to the utmost danger, and that the pain- 
ful anticipations of your friends that, you 
may go into a decline, will be realized. 
Yet, at present, there is no occasion for 
immediate alarm, except in the danger 
arising from any delay on your part in 
resorting to the proper means of relief and 
cure. I recognize the truthfulness of your 
narrative, in the accuracy and fidelity of 
your description of the symptoms and 
progress of a debility arising from the 
causes you intimate as producing your 
own, and I am glad that it is in my power 
to afford you most certain and permanent 
relief. However distressing your case 
may be, — and I fully believe it to be as 
painful and discouraging to you as you 
describe it, — it is by no means a novel one, 
nor one from which you may dread any 
very serious ills, other than those which 
you now suffer, provided you will at once 



528 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

submit to such treatment as I shall advise. 
You are, it would seem, a 3 T oung lady of 
precocious instincts and strong passions, 
which, through the want of early guidance 
and restraint, have led you into errors and 
practices not only highly injurious and 
pernicious, but which, if left unchecked 
and entirely unsubdued, will result in the 
most fatal consequences. Imbecility, idi- 
otcy, madness, or death itself, not only 
may, but some one of them are most cer- 
tain to intervene, as a result of the condi- 
tion in which you now unhappily find 
yourself. I shall take care, however, that 
no such calamity shall befal you. My long 
experience, and the numerous cases in 
which your own would afford a fair example 
of them all, enables me to assure you that 
you are not beyond the reach of the cura- 
tive art. It will necessarily take some 
considerable time, and subject you to much 
self-denial, to follow, as you must, those 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 529 

dietetic and hygienic rules which it will be 
necessary for you to observe if you would 
attain your wishes in the complete restor- 
ation of your health ; and bo able to fill as 
you ought, the noble and interesting sta- 
tions of niaiden, wife, and mother, to which 
Vou may be destined. I send you by ex- 
press, to-day, certain parcels containing 
medicines, accompanying which are speci- 
fic directions for their use, with general 
directions for exercise, bathing, recreation 
and sleep, to which it will be necessary for 
you to conform. The- medicines now sent 
are such as are best adapted to your pres- 
ent condition, and to prepare you for such 
others as an altered and improved state of 
your health may indicate, after the present 
supply has been exhausted. It is not 
absolutely necessary that I should see you, 
although it is preferable that I should do 
so. You will, however, from time to time, 
let me know the progress you are making, 



530 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and at the proper time I will send you 
other preparations which will hasten, and 
I hope go far to reestablish your health. 
In the meantime I beg you to have perfect 
confidence in my ability to cure you ; and 
the pleasure which at all times I shall feel 
in being regarded as your confidential 
adviser and friend. 

F. Morrill, M. D. 

Note. This young lady proved to be a far more 
sensible and persevering person than I had feared she 
would turn out to be when I took her case in hand. 
She implicitly and faithfullv followed my directions, 
and the medicines which from time to time I found it 
necessary to prepare for her use, soon produced their 
effects in bringing about a change most gratifying to 
all who witnessed it. In a few months she ceased to 
be the careworn and depressed invalid of her former 
days; and when once my treatment began to take 
effect, she rallied and gained strength with a rapidity 
truly astonishing. In a short time she became as 
healthy, hearty, and I may justly add, as beautiful, 
as she had formerly been sick, frail, and despairing, 
in her daily looking for a slow, lingering, and ap- 
proaching death. She is now a happy wife, and 
mother of a large and interesting family. And quite 
recently, when I wrote to her asking her permission 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 531 

G , N. H., , 186—. 

Dr. Frederic Morrill, 

Dear Sir, — By the advice of some 
friends here who are acquainted with you, 
and have, as they assure me, been highiy 
benefitted by you in cases quite similar to 
my own, I am induced to write toj~ou, and 
solicit your advice regarding my health, 
which has for a long time been in a failing 
condition. I am a married woman, and 
although such for nearly three years, am 
not, and unhappily for myself, likely to 
become, a mother. Previous to my mar- 
to publish her letter to me, written in her youth, and 
in the hour of her distress, she replied cheerfully, 
" By all means, doctor, publish it if you think it may 
be useful to do so. You saved me, and you have my 
earnest prayers that your life may be spared many 
years to benefit and restore others." I have given 
this correspondence, comprising as it does a little his- 
tory, in all its simplicity, as a specimen of hundreds 
in my possession, and well calculated, I believe, to 
inspire hope and confidence in the minds of the dis- 
tressed and suffering. 



532 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

riage, and almost from my childhood, I had 
enjoyed good health, and am not aware 
that I had, at any time, been afflicted with 
any illness or complaint which should at 
this time have caused the ills which I now 
suffer. I am most sincerely and fondly 
attached to my husband, who, I have every 
reason to believe, fully reciprocates my 
affection for him. He is passionately fond 
of children, and above all things in the 
world, is desirous of having a family. The 
little prospect there is of his wishes in 
that respect being gratified, is, I know, 
the cause of no little disquietude, if not 
downright unhappiness and dissatisfaction 
on his part. That this misfortune, — for 
such I regard it, — is owing to myself, I 
feel almost certain. Soon after my mar- 
riage I was conscious of certain derange- 
ments, which led to a gradual decline of 
health and strength, producing not only an 
indifference, but I may say, an absolute 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 533 

reluctance to that commerce and sexual in- 
tercourse to which, as a wife, I am obliged 
to submit and he, as a husband, has a 
right to claim. When I assure you that 
this unhappy state of things arises solely 
from derangements and debility over 
which I have no control, and which I have 
in vain sought to correct and over- 
come, you will know to what an extent 
I am suffering, and how necessary it is to 
consult a physician. I am rather positive 
that my sufferings are aggravated by the 
position in which I am placed ; and yet, I 
would rather suffer death than do anything 
to add to the evident discontent and un- 
happiness of my husband. Can you, 
doctor, from what I have written, form 
such an opinion of my condition as will 
enable you to prescribe for my relief. My 
inability and reluctance to adopt a plainer 
manner of expressing myself, may cause 
me to come short of conveying to your 



534 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

mind all I wish you to know ; but still I 
trust that, I have stated enough to enable 
3^ou to express an opinion of what is best 
for me to do. An early answer will confer 
a great favor, for which I will not only re- 
munerate you to your entire satisfaction, 
but for which I shall feel grateful beyond 
my powers of language to express. 

With great respect, 



The reader will readily perceive that, 
this letter, although calculated to excite 
my sympathies for this estimable lady, did 
not give me such information as would 
enable me in any proper or reliable manner 
to make such a diagnosis of her case as to 
justif}^ me in prescribing for her without 
a personal interview and examination. I 
wrote to her to this effect, and shortly 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 535 

afterwards was called upon by her in per- 
son at my office. She was evidently a 
lady of excellent culture ; had a pleasing 
yet melancholy cast of features, was of 
about a middling height, dark complexion, 
and' exceedingly slow, reserved, and lan- 
guid in all her language and movements. 
Her unhappy and embarrassing condition 
seemed to absorb her whole attention ; and 
although expressing herself willing and 
ready to submit to any course of medical 
treatment I might advise, yet I found it by 
no means an easy task to sift out, as it 
were, from all she narrated to me, the true 
causes of her ailments and troubles. I 
did so, however, to my entire satisfaction ; 
and although her case presented obstacles 
and complications such as I have but 
rarely met with, I felt confident in my 
ability to effect a cure. I first induced 
her to a change of scenery and her usual 
daily pursuits, and to place herself under 



536 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

my care in my immediate vicinity, where 
I could daily notice such changes as 
might occur. Under the treatment re- 
sorted to, the functional derangements 
very rapidly disappeared, and her general 
health very much improved. By a careful 
and judicious administration of remedies I 
soon had the satisfaction to see her per- 
fectly restored to health, and in a condition 
to return to her husband, a companion, 
indeed, meet for him, in every hope, aspiv 
ration, and condition of life. They are 
now in possession of an interesting and 
healthy family, which, with ample store of 
this world's goods, leaves no room for 
despondency, unhappiness, or discontent. 

In looking over the extensive corres- 
pondence which I have had with patients in 
every stage, and under every form of disease, 
I find more difficulty in making the proper 
selections than from any want of material. 
It would be easy for me to place before 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 537 

my readers some most interesting letters 
which would exhibit to them many pecu- 
liar and important phases of female com- 
plaints which I have to deal with, but 
which do not, in my opinion, so clearly 
come within the limits of that particular 
class of ailments to which I more particu- 
larly desire to call attention in this book. 
My desire is, as I have repeatedly stated, 
to explain, in plain and simple language, 
the great prevalence of, and the extreme 
danger arising from, a certain class of dis- 
orders, having their origin and seat in the 
genito-urinal organs ; consequently endan- 
gering and deranging all the functions of 
procreation and maternity, and producing, 
if unheeded and neglected, a train of evil 
consequences, the duration of which are 
only to be measured by life itself. In 
addition to the plain and simple style in 
which I have endeavored to do this in the 
earlier pages of this book, I have thought 



538 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

it would add to its usefulness and interest, 
and commend it more to the confidence of 
my readers, if I append to it these exposi- 
tions of actual cases written by the ladies 
themselves, who have heretofore sought 
my advice. 

Written, as they evidently were, only in 
the hope and desire of conveying an 
accurate description of their feelings and 
ailments, it is to be presumed that they 
made no drafts upon their imagination, and 
stated only what they really felt and be- 
lieved to be true ; and I venture to believe 
that, every female who may peruse this trea- 
tise, will readily recognize, in the descrip- 
tions they have given, a striking similarity 
to feelings, disorders, and complaints which 
she has, at some period, realized to some 
extent herself. I should extend this vol- 
ume to a size far beyond that which I 
had contemplated when I began it, were I 
to multiply, as I might easily do, these 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 539 

evidences of popular confidence in my 
ability and skill to perform all I pledge 
myself to do in the way of medical or 
surgical treatment for every complaint to 
which the gentler sex are liable. I cannot, 
however, refrain from transcribing the 
following letter from a lady somewhat 
advanced in years, and who, clinging to 
life with all the tenacity and desire 
prompted by the possession of every 
means for enjoyment which wealth can 
afford, only lacked that most essential 
element of all earthly happiness, health, to 
render her condition in life a most enviable 
one. She had, as she informed me, in her 
interviews with me, been early possessed 
of sound bodily health, and fortified, as she 
felt herself to be, by a strong and vigorous 
constitution, she had, unshackled by any 
of those restraints imposed by the careful 
guardianship of watchful parents and de- 
voted friendship, early in life rushed into 



540 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

all the excesses of youth, and at times set 
at defiance every maxim of prudence and 
virtue. Once entered upon a life of plea- 
sure, she gave full rein to every passion, 
and suffered to pass unheeded the frequent 
admonitions which, abused, and too fre- 
quently outraged nature would give, that 
she was sowing the wind to reap the 
whirlwind. At the time she applied to me 
she was compelled to regard her condition 
in its true aspect, and to acknowledge 
herself " beaten/ 7 as she expressed it, by 
those remorseless enemies to health and 
repose, which she had so much defied in 
the hey-day of her youth and strength. 
With all her faults, and the dreadful 
consequences of her past life upon her, 
her strongly marked, but somewhat mascu- 
line, yet still beautiful, features, could not 
otherwise than command my admiration; 
whilst her dignity and commanding lofti- 
ness of expression, almost compelled a 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 541 

respect not unmingled with a degree of 
awe, sometimes experienced when we first 
find ourselves in the presence of extra- 
ordinary women. She had heard of me in 
the city of Washington, which had, for 
many years, been the theatre of her 
triumphs as a reigning belle, and from 
which place, after a slight correspondence, 
she had come to place herself under my 
care. By my advice she secluded herself 
from public observation and all social 
intercourse, in one of our suburban towns, 
where, under an assumed name, she lead a 
life of abstemiousness, and directed her 
attention solely to the recovery of her 
health. With the wilfulness of spirit that 
ever characterized her life, and pointed 
her out as one of the u fastest women of 
the age/ 7 she settled herself down with a 
dogged determination to be cured, if it 
was in the power of medicine and skill to 
effect it. 



542 MEDICAL ADVISEK. 

I must confess that I felt highly compli- 
mented, as well as pleased, at the un- 
limited confidence with which she com- 
mitted herself to my care, and was 
determined that no effort on my part 
should be wanting to perfect her cure. 
She was under my care for several 
months, and although I frequently des- 
paired of restoring her fully to health, yet 
I had the satisfaction to perceive that, 
gradually her diseases and complaints gave 
way to the regimen I had imposed, and 
the remedies which I had administered. 
At the commencement of the autumn 
following the time when she first called 
upon me, her health had been so far re-es- 
tablished, that I permitted her to return to 
society. On leaving, she promised to keep 
me advised as to her health and progress 
towards complete restoration. In the fol- 
lowing winter I received from her the 
following letter :— 



GUIDE TO HEALTH 543 

Washington, D. C., 186-. 

My Dear Doctor : 

You have not forgotten me, I presume, 
amidst all the calls and demands of your 
numerous and exacting patients. When I 
left you, you know that I promised to 
keep you informed as to the condition of my 
health, and threatened also, that, at some 
time when leisure and inclination com- 
bined to render the task comparatively an 
easy one, I would comply with a request 
of yours, that I would give you, in form, 
for future reference, some of the leading 
features, not only of my extraordinary 
case, such as you found it to be, but also 
some of those causes to which you but 
too truly attributed the deplorable and 
miserable condition I was in when I first 
came to you, a poor blighted and desperate 
creature, in search of my long lost health. 
You remember the reticence which I ever 



544 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

maintained when the subject of my early 
life was alluded to ; and yon well remember 
how careful I was not to commit myself by 
any exposure likely to come back upon me 
to my discomfiture in after life, But the 
fidelity with which you devoted yourself 
to my welfare, and the skill with which 
you combated the complaints and weakness 
which had nearly overwhelmed me, have 
made me your friend for life ; and the strict 
and manly honor which marked your 
whole intercourse with me, during so 
many months, have so completely disarmed 
me of all hesitancy to confide in you, that 
I feel inclined, by a sense of gratitude, to 
express to you how large the debt I feel 
that I owe to you, as my preserver and best 
earthly friend. From the earliest period 
of which I can remember, I have been sole 
mistress of my actions and conduct through 
life. I only know my parents through 
what has been communicated to me by 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 545 

others ; whilst my temporal wants have 
been amply provided for by a fortune too 
large for any want which I may ever feel. 
Endowed by nature with no small share of 
personal attractions, and aided by every 
accomplishment which art could confer, I 
entered upon life with every prospect 
open before me of position and happiness. 
In an unfortunate hour I fell the victim of 
the seducer's wiles, which implanted in my 
heart a thirst for revenge on all mankind. 
I resolved never to marry; and giving 
myself up to unbridled desire, and, unre- 
strained by want, or any earthly ties, I 
have vibrated between the great centres 
of fashion, vice, folly, and debauchery for 
forty years, and under the maddening 
influence of my early conceived hatred for 
your sex, have, in ruining them, brought 
upon myself that Pandora's box of evils 
under which I was groaning, when I 
placed myself under your care. A mother, 



546 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

I am still childless, and I yet bear my 
father's name, because I am not entitled, 
by any act of lawful wedlock, to call 
myself by any other. The relations which 
I have, first and last, maintained with men 
of the most distinguished rank in the 
country, you have often suspected, and it 
is clue to truth to say that, they have been 
of that character to lead one into every 
temptation and experience to which a 
woman can be subjected. Time and time 
again, I have had repeated to me the 
severe lesson that, neither rank nor 
wealth alone, could protect us from the 
consequences of violating nature's laws. 
Always ashamed of the penalties I was 
paying for my follies, I did, as thousands 
of others do, when circumstanced as I was : 
I doctored myself. I resorted to every 
known drug and compound vended in the 
shops, and exhausted the whole catalogue 
of nostrums and specifics, famous for their 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 547 

wonderful properties in curing diseases, 
until I had completely staturated my 
whole system with their detestable ingre- 
dients ; and during all this time my pride 
forbade me to abate one iota of the round 
of pleasure, (?) vice, and dissipation in 
which I daily and nightly plunged. 

But the time came when tonics, stimu- 
lants, and cosmetics, could play their part 
no longer. Narcotics, opium, either crude 
or in the shape of laudanum, or morphine, 
were resorted to, to quiet the raging fires 
within, until overtasked nature succumbed 
to the too heavy load I had laid upon it. 
In rapid and sharp succession came the 
prostration of all the nervous system, the 
loss of appetite, and the loathing of food ; 
dyspepsia and derangement of the organs 
of nutrition and digestion, with that com- 
plete upsetting and bouleversement of all my 
feminine attributes, as only you, as a physi- 
sician, can imagine, and as you, also as a 



548 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

physician, at least in my own case, have had 
an opportunity to witness and cure. When 
I recall to mind the suffering and misery I 
have undergone, the perils I have en- 
countered and escaped, and remember that 
it is to your care and to your consumate 
skill that I am indebted for even life itself, 
I am at a loss for words to express the 
extent of my gratitude. **■*.*.*.** I 
trust it may be pleasing for you to learn 
that, warned by your counsels and en- 
couraged by your friendship and kindly 
interest manifested in my welfare, I shall 
henceforth strive to lead a life of sobriety 
and virtue ; and if I do not, at some f uture 
time, become a distinguished Magdalene 
and penitent it will be only, as you know, 
from my utter detestation of everything 
that by any possibility could be construed 
into hypocracy and pretence. * * * * 
Gratefully and sincerely yours, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. . 549 

[Letter from a Lady.] 



186- 



Doctor Morrill: — 



The idea of addressing myself to you 
has often suggested itself to me, but I 
have hesitated and delayed it so long, that 
I fear I should relinquish it altogether, 
were I not now compelled to seek the 
advice 'of some one ; and I know of no 
person to whom I can, in my present 
emergency, turn with such confidence as I 
can to you. Your reputation, as a skilful 
and honorable physician, emboldens me to 
address you in all frankness, and I trust, 
should I not succeed in making myself 
throroughly understood, you will not 
attribute it to any prudish reserve on my 
part, but to my inexperience and want of 
ability to enter into all the details, perhaps, 
necessary to give you such an accurate 
idea of my case, as will enable you to 



550 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

advise and prescribe for me without a 
personal interview, which, at this time 
I am particularly anxious to avoid. I 
am a married lady, of twenty-eight years 
of age, and have resided with my husband, 
to whom I am most devotedly attached, 
over eight years, and am, I am sorry 
to say, still unblessed by offspring. This 
obstacle to our mutual happiness is the more 
severely felt by me, as I am his second wife ; 
his former wife having presented him with 
three fine children; and I am sure that 
our happiness would be more complete 
were I also as fortunate even in a lesser 
degree. I am pained and mortified at 
the reflection that it must be attributed 
to some physical defect or incapacity on 
my part that this unhappy sterility exists. 
Possessing pretty general good health, 
and descended from a parentage by no 
means inclined to disease or debility, 
in any form, I have been, and am now, 



GUIDE TO ^HEALTH. 551 

distressed as to what may be the cause 
• to which I should attribute my misfortune, 
as well as to any hopes that I may 
reasonably entertain that these obstacles 
to my becoming a mother, is resting with 
me, (as I am apprehensive they do), can 
be removed. I am not aware of any 
functional malformation, and I am quite 
sure of no irregularities operating to my 
disadvantage. 

Weighed down by these troubles, and 
(if I may so express myself), my longings 
to make my husband happy, I have 
repeatedly, at intervals, sought a change 
of air and scenery, and by lengthy visits 
to the country, and other healthful resorts, 
endeavored, by exercise, alternated by 
quiet and repose, a frugal, as well as 
highly nutritious diet, to assist me 
in accomplishing my desires. But my 
efforts thus for have proved in vain. I 
have not dared to listen to the suggestions 



552 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

frequently made to me, that medical 
treatment would probably relieve me from 
this painful, and 1 must say frankly, 
mortifying condition in which I find myself. 
Having been favored with a perusal of 
your correspondence with other ladies by 
whom you have been consulted in regard 
to female complaints, pertaining to 
themselves, I have felt, from the 
earnestness and intelligence which you 
display, as well as the success which 
attended your prescriptions, that, if 
medicine could benefit me, you are the 
only physician whom I could trust to 
administer it. If I have succeeded in 
making my condition plain to you, you 
will do me the favor to give my case 
the earliest attention. You shall find in 
me a docile and obedient patient, and 
you may be assured that whatever course 
of treatment you may prescribe, shall be 
most scrupulously followed. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 553 

I do not ask to occupy your attention, 
even in considering over the contents of 
this letter, without remunerating you for 
the time, (which to you, must be valuable), 
which you must necessarily devote to it. 
Enclosed you will find an amount which, I 
trust, will prove satisfactory ; and should 
I become your patient, and your success 
equal my hopes, your compensation shall 
not only be ample and liberal, but in a 
measure proportioned to the gratitude I 
shall ever feel for the benefits you may 
be the means of conferring upon your 
unhappy but confiding friend. 

Please address, Mrs. . 

[My Answer.] 

Bostox, , 186 

My Dear Madam : 

I have received and perused with much 

interest, your letter of , and you may 

rest assured that you have my heartfelt 



554 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

sympathy for the unpleasant circumstances 
in which you are placed, as well as my 
most grateful acknowledgements for the 
kind and almost too flattering manner in 
which you express your confidence in 
my ability to serve you. When I read 
your letter, and observe the ability which 
marks its composition, I am, I confess, 
not a little astonished that a person, 
evidently so well-informed and possessed 
of the good common sense which you 
indicate, should for so many years have 
submitted to the cause which has produced 
so much unhappiness to. yourself, and 
doubtless also to your excellent husband 
as well. There was no necessity for all 
this suffering and anxiety, this constant 
feverish excitement, attendant upon 
disappointed hopes ; and the continued 
flitting from the city to the country, and 
from the country to the watering places, 
for a change of air and scenery, needful, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 555 

as you suppose, to promote your wishes, and 
to render you more susceptible of attaining 
your hopes. From your description of 
yourself, I cannot see any reason whatever 
why you should despair. There is evidently 
no material or functional obstacle in the 
way, and I am very certain that, with 
proper treatment, patience and care, you 
may be made to realize the best and 
most sanguine hopes you may choose to 
entertain. Very few females are naturally 
and constitutionally incapable of conception. 
The inability to propagate more commonly 
lies with the male ; but the fact you 
mention, that your husband's first wife 
presented him with children, is certainly 
very strong presumptive evidence that 
such impediments as do exist to your 
mutual fecundity, are with you, rather 
than with him. Causes may, however, 
have arisen during the 'interval of 
widowhood, on his part, of which you 



556 MEDICAL ADYISER. 

may have no idea ; and . which, if known, 
would tend greatly to relieve your 
mind of the oppression caused by the 
apprehensions which you feel that, to you 
alone may be attributed the misfortunes 
which at present grieves you so intensely. 
Were I not satisfied that it has been 
owing to your extreme hesitation, — arising 
from a modesty and too conscientious 
scruples to take medical advice upon this 
subject, — I should feel, in a far less degree 
than I now do, that any sympathy or 
-compassion for your present unhappy 
condition was altogether misplaced and 
uncalled for. For eight years you have 
been living with a husband, between 
whom and yourself, — so far as I may 
judge from the contents of your letter, — 
there exists in the highest degree every 
sentiment and affection, upon the possession 
of which, contentment and happiness in 
the marriage relation so much depends. 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 557 

There are no mental reservations nor 
repugnancies to render your association 
and embraces "uncongenial to either of you, 
and yet, all this long time of eight years 
you have been pining and groaning, and 
almost dying ; primarily, because you did 
not bear children, and secondly, as a 
consequence of, and punishment for, your 
neglect to resort to the plainest and most 
apparent duty which stared you in the 
face, namely, to take medical advice in 
relation to it. I speak quite plainly to 
you, madam. It is my duty to do so. 
Considerations arising from my anxiety 
for your health, prompt me to do this. 
Have you ever reflected that all this 
worriinent, care and anxiety/ which has 
accompanied you by day, and beset your 
pillow by night, may not, by its depressing 
influences have done much to shorten 
your life, and engender diseases not yet 
developed, which may entail far greater 



5o8 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

misfortunes upon both yourself and 
husband than the one you now seek to 
remedy ? 

How can you excuse to yourself this 
long continued violence done to the most 
natural, purest and best aspirations of 
the female heart? A most superficial 
knowledge of the physiology of your sex 
would have told you that, maternity in 
the marriage state is one of nature's laws, 
and any failure on your part to comply 
with it, unless through compulsory causes, 
over which you have no control, inevitably 
entails consequences not only such as you 
have expressed, but even lunacy and 
death itself. You have only to turn over 
the pages 6f history, and in the lives of 
princes you may learn how much agony 
suffering, and degradation might have 
been prevented had this law been faithfully 
and religiously observed. You have 
sinned then against yourself, your husband, 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 559 

and against those very beings whom you 
might have had at this moment around 
you, to comfort, cheer and bless you. But 
pardon me, madam. I have, unconsciously 
to myself, allowed my feelings to 
control my pen for the moment, and 
in my zeal to impress upon you 
the wrong you had hitherto done, in 
neglecting to remedy the evil under which 
you are suffering, have almost forgotten to 
comply with your request to inform you 
if I could advise and assist you in so 
important and interesting a matter. I 
answer unhesitatingly that I can and will 
do both. It belongs to my profession to be 
able to do this, and having for many years 
directed my studies and investigations 
to this important branch of medical 
science, I have been able to acomplish all 
in this respect that you can require. By 
the aid of medicines, which are, I am quite 
sure, only used by myself in this country, 



560 MEDICAL ADVISER. 

and of whose fructifying effects hundreds 
of happy mothers can bear witness, I 
never fail to remove every cause of 
disquietude and barrenness in a manner 
so mild, safe, and effectual, that the 
system receives no shock, and nature, 
relieved of the shackles which have 
hitherto restrained her in her most 
wonderful work, bounds onward to a new 
lease of life and happiness, in those 
pledges of mutual love, without which 
your house, though a palace, will be 
desolate indeed. In your case I think 
there is no need of my seeing you. 
Should it become necessary, I can easily 
inform you at any time, after I shall have 
learned the effects of the preparations I 
now send. 

Please keep me from time to time 
informed of the state of your health, and 
the progress you may make in realizing 
certain results in the course of medical 



GUIDE TO HEALTH. 561 

treatment which I shall prescribe for you. 
The medicines, carefully and securely 
packed, will be forwarded at once, with 
specific directions for their use. With 
sincere wishes for the ultimate attainment 
of every desired blessing, I am very truly 
your friend and confidential adviser. 

F. MORRILL, M. D. 



The foregoing, selected from a mass 
of correspondence long since cast aside, 
were preserved only as mementos of 
cases, which, at the time, deeply interested 
me. They disclose a state of facts, more 
or less existing with every nervous or 
otherwise diseased sufferer, and point out 
a source of relief about which there need 
be no mistake. The reader will, I am 
sure, know how to appreciate the 
information they convey, and, I trust, be 
wise enough to profit by the suggestions 
they contain. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction to the Second Edition. Page 3d. 



Preface to the Revised and Enlarged (this) 
Edition. Page 17. 



THE MEDICAL ADVISER AND 
GUIDE TO HEALTH. 

PART FIRST. 

Chapter I. Page 1-34. 

Introduction to the subject. Motives for "writing 
this treatise. Sexual diseases and the social evil — 
whom it affects. Artificial forms of living, and 
the unguarded association of the sexes. Stimulating 
drinks. Premature development of the virile passions. 
Physiology and the laws of Life. A knowledge of 
necessary. Former ignorance of. Seminal weakness 
and physical debility. Physicians. 

Chapter II. Page 34-63. 
The progress of sexual disease. Proper method of 
treatment. Special danger of the married. Mer- 

(5G3) 



564 CONTENTS. 

curial diseases. Dangerous nature of the drug. 
Advice to those afflicted. Medical pretenders, charla- 
tans and quacks. Hydrocele. Former mode of 
treatment useless. Palliatives. Impediments to 
marriage. Loss of sexual power. Causes. 

Chapter III. Page 63-92. 

Addressed to elderly men. Recuperation. The 
treatment for sexual diseases similar in both sexes. 
What are considered as sexual diseases. Gonorrhoea, 
or Clap, — what it is. Its symptoms and appearance. 
Abortive treatment. Injections. How to use a 
syringe. Advice and suggestions. Receipes for 
gonorrhoea. Chordee, —remedy for. Gleet, —what 
it is. Its symptoms and appearance. Duration, 
Remedies. Stricture. Sir Benjamin Brodie's opin- 
ion. Method of cure, and remedies. 

Chapter IV. Page 92-133 

Prescriptions, why not more given. Unreliability 
of drugs as usually found in apothecary's shops. How 
I procure my principle medicines. Living witnesses 
of their efficacy. Correspondence. Its inviolability. 
Exceptions. Violation of nature's laws. Consum- 
ption. Diseases of the heart and liver. Rheumatism. 
Imperfections of sight and hearing. Baldness. Letter 
from a gentleman, describing his case. His early habits. 



CONTENTS. 565 

Constipation and costiveness. Loss of memory and 
lack of energy. Thoughts of suicide. Cold sweats. 
fevers, horrid and lascivious dreams. Note. Inci- 
dents, cure. Letter from J. G., of H., Vt., describ- 
ing his case, — masturbation, fits. Letter from an 
elderly gentleman, describing his case. Its extra- 
ordinary and repulsive character. Satyriasis, Letter 
from a gentleman giving the characteristics and 
peculiarities of his wife's case. "What had been 
done for her. Her present condition and his fears. 
My reply. Cunning, and concealment of secret 
habits. Plainness of speech, and mode of address in 
such cases. Specialism, — why and how brought 
into disrepute. Is honorable, if properly pursued. 
Illustrious examples. Abercrombie, Hunter, Bell, 
Eicord, Acton. Usefulness the criterion, and the 
Public the best judge of merit. 

Chapter Y. Page 133-145. 

Recipes. Character of those given, for gonorrhoea. 
Injections of Nitrate of Silver. Why sometimes 
objectionable. Chlorate of Potash. Decoction of 
Brazil Bark, etc. By whom prescriptions should be 
put up. Danger of self doctoring. Country doctors. 
Why they so little understand private and sexual 
diseases. Old authors, — their works now obsolete 
and useless. Case of a young man who had been 



566 CONTENTS. 

nearly a year under treatment by a country 
physician. His failure to cure. The doctor's bill. 

Chapter VI. Page 145-163. 

Spermatorrhoea. Seminal weakness and nocturnal 
emissions. Diseases of the procreative organs alarm- 
ingly prevalent. The labors of the specialist. No- 
tions of the uneducated. Passion for dosing and 
drugging. Popular idea of the virtue of drugs. Pill 
eating. How this popular idea is taken advantage of 
by quacks. The true method of treating a patient. 
Masturbation the principal cause of spermatorrhoea. 
All seminal weakness not spermatorrhoea. Its aban- 
donment the first condition of relief. Lead us not 
into temptation. A cowardly, selfish and debasing 
habit. Opinion of Jas. D. TVakely, M. D., Editor 
of the London Lancet. His opinion of marriage as a 
curative means. Why, under certain circumstances 
"it would be immoral, unscientific and unmanly." 
Men addicted to vicious habits, and subjects of 
sexual weakness, are, as a rule, " inexpressibly 
nasty." How a wife protects herself against the 
advances of a broken-down husband. Dr. T. B. 
Curling, President of the Hunterian Society, London. 
His opinion of spermatorrhoea. How caused. Its 
effects upon the patient. Specific action upon the 
brain. Gives rise to epileptic symptoms. The heavy 



CONTENTS. 5G7 

penalty for gross indulgence in sensuality. A de- 
graded nature and a ruined constitution. 

Chapter VII. Page 1G3-190. 

The testicles, — their construction, and the dis- 
eases to which they are liable. Frequency of these 
complaints. Too little attention given them at first. 
Sterility a result of diseased testicle , Wonderful 
structure. Peculiarities of swelled testicle. Atrophy, 
or wasting of the testicle. Dangers arising from 
the imprudent use of Iodine, as a medicine. Case 
reported by M. Cullerier. Case of wasting of the 
testicle reported by Baron Larrey. Old methods of 
treating swelled testicle. Great delicacy of the 
organ. "What may occasion swelling. Remote 
causes of the trouble. Case reported by Hildanus, a 
Latin author. An interesting case which was caused 
by an accident on the Boston and Providence Pail- 
way in 1839. A case in which swelled testicle was 
occasioned by a blow on the face, reported by Dr. 
Smith, in the Lancet for August, 1841. Resources 
of modern science. 

Chapter VIII. Page 187-197. 

Personal. Reflections suggested by a life of com- 
petition. Trials of a true specialist. Tricks of 
adventures. Pandering to the universal appetite for 



568 CONTENTS. 

drugs. Colored water and inert substances given as 
remedies. Yalue of concentrated medicines and 
small doses. The Morrill Medical Institute, No. 3 
Bulfinch Street. Caution to patients against the 
" roping in " system of charlatans and quacks. 

Chapter IX. Page 198-204. 

Personal and Professional. Early experience. 
Uncle Toby's treatment of the fly. Professional 
independence. Ambition for professional excellence. 

Chapter X. Page 205-267. 

Symptomatology. Reasons for furnishing this 
chapter. The diseases enumerated, those that I 
make a particular study. Acne, definition of; des- 
cription, symptoms. Amnesia ; description of, symp- 
toms, varieties. Bubo ; what it is, from what it arises. 
Carbuncle ; derivation of name, description of, reme- 
dies. Catarrh; meaning of the word, what it is, 
symptoms of, etc. Conjunctivitis ; what it is, symp- 
toms, treatment, contagious. Convulsions ; causes of, 
description of. Corneitis ; derivation of the name, 
varities. Syphilitic Keratitis ; indications of, a very 
disagreeable disease. Diabetis Mellitus ; meaning 
of the term, description. Diuresis; or excessive flow 
of urine. Enuresis; or urinating in bed. Hema- 
turia; or bloody urine, Hoemorrhoids ; or piles. 



CONTENTS. 569 

Hydrocele and Hcematocele ; description of, proper 
treatment. Hydronephrosis ; dropsy of the kidney. 
Insanity, described, varieties, erapyricism and quack- 
ery rebuked. Iritis ; its signification, result of 
syphilis. Lepra ; what it is, remedies for. Nephritis ; 
described, symptoms of. Paraphymosis ; what it is, 
causes of. Penis Cancer ; described. Periostitis ; as 
a result of syphilitic taint, described. Peritonitis ; 
meaning of the word, symptoms, dangerous character. 
Pamryngitis ; or syphilitic sore throat, its danger. 
Priaprism; described, remedies for. Prostrate En- 
largement. Prostatitis ; or inflamation of the pros- 
trate gland, described, its causes. Rectal Cancer; 
description of, consequences, so-called cancer doctors 
useless. Rectal Stricture. Rectal Ulcers. Renal 
(Kidney) Cancer ;. described, symptoms. Renal De- 
generations ; varieties, described. Rheumatism. Tes- 
tis ; what it is, varieties, acute, chronic, orchitis. 
Scrofulous testicle. Uroemia ; described. Urethetis ; 
or inflamation of the urethra, description, treatment 
of. Urinary Calculi, or Gravel ; described, a very for- 
midable disease, lithotomy. Vesical Inflammation ; or 
inflammation of the bladder, acute, chronic, symp- 
toms, treatment. Chronic Cysts ; symptoms. Vesical 
(bladder) Paralysis ; described. Vesical (bladder) 
Spasm. Vesical (bladder) Irritability. Conclusion 
of Part Pirst. 



570 CONTESTS. 

PART SECOND. Page 2G9. 

ADDRESSED TO FEMALES EXCLUSIVELY. 
Introduction to the First Editon. History of 
the work. Lack of information upon important sub- 
ject. Misery resulting from ignorance. Education 
of the passions. Bibliographical Acknowledge- 
ments. List of authors consulted in the preparation 
of this book, page 281-285. 

Chapter I. Page 289-297. 

TO SINGLE LADIES. 

Nature generally perfect. The vices of civilization. 
Age of puberty. An era in life. Premonitions of 
trouble. Cautions against the use of drugs unad- 
vised. 

Chapter II. Page 297-308. 

To single ladies continued. Early lessons, habits, 
temptations and dangers. Fears and apprehensions 
What should be done. Recipes,— Tartrate of Iron, 
Potassia and Powdered Columbo. Sub. Carbonate 
of Iron, Gentian and Orange Peel. Considerations 
in selecting a physician. ■*" 

Chapter III. Page 308-115. 

To single ladies continued. Important and delicate 
subjects. Serious truths. Secret habits. Cannot 



CONTEXTS. 571 

be concealed from the observing. Symptoms, loss 
of appetite, unnatural craving for food, desire for 
unseemly and disgusting objects for food. Abstraction 
of mind, disagreeable dreams, cold extremities. 
Necessity for frank disclosure and dealing with your 
physician. 

Chapter IV*. Page 315-325. 

Reasons for an enlargement of this work. The 
good it has accomplished. Its originality, and the 
public confidence in it. Specialism. — its advantages. 

Chapter V. Page 325-336. 

The young maiden. Catemenial discharge. The 
age of puberty. Healthful and unhealthful flow. 
Cautions. Amenorrhea. 

Chapter VI. Page 336-355. 

TThat constitutes healthy menstruation. Suppression 
and irregularity. Causes, peculiarities, pallor, waxy 
appearance of the skin, remedies and prescriptions. 
Recipes, — preparation of Nitric Acid and Taraxacum, 
Aloes and Sennse, Gamboge and pill hydragyri, 
extract of Ergot and tincture of Serpentaria. Pod- 
ophyli and Hyoscyami. Griffith's Mixture. Steel 
and ammonia. Quinine and steel. Steel and pepsine. 
Volatile tincture of Guaiacum and Copaiba. Juniper 



572 CONTENTS. 

and Acid Tartrate of Potash. Hiera Picra. When 
pregnancy may be suspected. Cheerfulness. Travel. 
Mineral waters. 

Chapter VII. Page 355-693. 

Menorrhagia, or profuse and unnatural menstrua- 
tion. Causes sometimes obscure and difficult to be 
ascertained. Symptoms. Danger of mistakes in 
diagnosis. Cautions. Natural instincts not always 
reliable. Why. Science the only true guide. Treat- 
ment of Menorrhagia. Recipes, astringents, diet, 
mental agitation. Useful suggestions. 

Chapter VIII: Page 369-382. 

Introduction to a description of the female sexual 
organs. Of what they consist. How named, their 
location and uses. Their technical and familiar 
names. Information and suggestions necessary to a 
correct understanding of the subject. Counsels. 

Chapter IX. Page 382-399. 

Reflections. Dysmenorrhoea. Its signification. 
Organic dysmenorrhea. Nervous dysmenorrhoea. 
Symptoms. Its general prevalence. The reality of 
the disease. Interesting letter from a lady. Import- 
ance of a correct diagnosis, etc., etc. 



CONTENTS. 573 

Chapter X. Page 399-418. 

Vaginal and uterine examinations. Timely hints. 
When necessary, and how to be made, Responsibili- 
ties and liabilities of the operator. Ladies good 
advertisers. Exposure of the person not necessary. 
Points to be noted. Examination when limited to the 
touch only. The speculum. When required. Posi- 
tion. Assistants. Opinion of a distinguished physi- 
cian. Remarks. 

Chapter XL Page 418-424. 

Continuation of advice to young ladies. Interest- 
ing digression in relation to male associates. Places 
of amusement. The theatre. Dance houses, soci- 
ables, and public dancing halls. Who attend them. 
It is the first step which costs. Where wives are not 
sought after, and where they are. Why. Conclusion 
to young ladies. 

Chapter XII. Page 424-447. 

Especially adapted to married ladies. Barrenness. 
Its sorrows may be removed. Mismated. Children. 
Preventives to conception. The use of. Justifiable, 
under certain circumstances. My system of medical 
treatment. Advice to applicants for professional 
services. 



574 CONTEXTS. 

Chapter XIII. Page 447-520. 

SYMPTOMATOLOGY. 

Of private, sexual, vaginal, uterine, and other dis- 
eases peculiar to females, alphabetically arranged, 
with useful suggestions and hints as to their proper 
treatment, etc. Agalactia, Sore Xipples, Arcites, 
Bed Case, Blennorrhagia, Chlorosis, Chorea, or St. t 
Vitus Dance, Clitorites, Chylous (milky) Urine, 
Coccyodynia, Constipation, Ecstacy, or Trance, Pal- 
lopian Tube dropsy. Description of the Eallopian 
Tubes. Galactorrhea ; or, superabundant secretion 
of milk. Hysteria, description of, and causes. Im- 
potence in woman. Sterility. Distinction between 
impotence and sterility. Mammary; or, breast 
abscess. Mammary Hypertrophy; or, enlargement 
of the breasts. Mammary Tumors,, varieties, simple, 
malignant. (1) Lacteal ; or, Milk Tumor. (2) Patty 
Tumors. (3) Cartilaginous and Bony Tumors. (4) 
Chronic Mammary Tumors. (5) Inflammation of 
the Xipple. Prescriptions for Mastodynia, or Neural- 
gia, description of, remedies for. The ovaries des- 
cribed. Ovarian displacements. Ovarian Tumor 
described, peculiarities and danger of them. Unjust 
suspicions arising from. Recipe for treatment. 
Neuralgia arising from uterine difficulties and syphili- 
tic taint. Varieties of. (1) Tic Douloureux. (2) 



CONTEXTS. 575 

Hemicrania. (3) Sciatica, described, remedies for. 
Ovaritis ; or, Inflammation of the ovary. Different 
forms of. (1) Acute Ovaritis, description of. Symp- 
toms. Prescriptions for, and general treatment. (2) 
Chronic Ovaritis, description of, symptoms and treat- 
ment. Pelvic Cellulitis, described, treatment for. 
Pelvic Hoematocele, symptoms, prescriptions for. 
Puerperal Mania, described, treatment. Pyrosis ; or, 
Heart-burn, remedies for. Uterus, the meaning of 
the term, described. The diseases to which it is 
subject. Anteversion, Retroversion, Vaginitis, Varie- 
ties, the Whites ; or, Vaginal leuchorrhoea, described, 
causes, treatment. Vulvitis. (1) Simple Vulvitis. 
(2) Follicular inflammation of the Vulva, described, 
prescriptions, etc. 

CORRESPONDENCE. Page 520— 5G1. 

Letter from a young lady. Her early history. 
Declining health. Symptoms of her complaint. 
Loss of appetite. Pains in the head and back. 
Weakness of the limbs and feet. My reply and 
counsels in the case. Letter from a married lady. 
Descriptions of her case. My reply. Case of a 
Washington belle. Letter from a married lady desir- 
ous of having children. My reply. General Obser- 
vations. Conclusion. 

THE END. 



